Sarah Porter of Hockinson placed fifth at the USA Track and Field 10-Mile Championships held Sunday in Minneapolis.
Porter finished with a time of 55 minutes, 1 second — 46 seconds behind race winner Janet Cherobon-Bawcom of Rome, Ga.
“It was great,” Porter told runnerspace.com. “It was a beautiful day. It was a tough course, but it was great. Top five was my goal. The race went out pretty conservative. I was in about 20th place coming through the mile and I was like, ‘Oh, man. I might have to settle for just fighting for Top 10.’ But once things started to break up, I knew it was definitely feasible. It was a matter of just figuring out where I was going to be, but I was very happy with it.”
Porter was a 13-time NCAA Division II All-America runner and national champion in the 10,000 meters (6.2 miles) as a senior earlier this year. She has since began her professional career, and is now based in Blowing Rock, N.C., and sponsored by Zap Fitness.
“In the past couple of weeks, things have really come together, and I’m really starting to enjoy the area and the training and the team,” Porter said. “I really feel like it’s just accumulated everything. This race today was really a product of the last month I spent with Zap.”
Porter agreed with a description of her as “a rookie” at the 10-mile distance, but said Sunday’s race was halfway through her buildup to the New York City Marathon on Nov. 26.
“It was kind of a stepping stone on the way to New York,” she said of Sunday’s race. “I’m definitely looking forward to running the marathon. Today gives me confidence because this is the longest race I’ve ran in a year or so, so I definitely think I’m going to be ready for the marathon.”
Gillnetters to fish Wednesday night
Ten hours of gillnetting in the lower Columbia River will begin at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
The commercial fleet will be allowed to fish from Beacon Rock downstream to the river mouth at Buoy 10 with 8-inch-minimum mesh nets.
A catch of about 2,000 chinook, up to 2,500 coho and 250 sturgeon is anticipated.
Only about 800 coho were caught during last week’s one-night gillnet opener.
Biologist Robin Ehlke of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said the small coho catch is likely due to early coho having moved through the river and late coho not yet arriving.
Gillnetting may be scheduled again next week to target on late coho.
