In the space of six weeks since her return to the steeplechase following a three-year absence, Alaska Sports Hall of Famer Allie Ostrander has thrust herself into the conversation heading into the USA Track & Field Olympic Trials later this month.

Ostrander, the 27-year-old Kenai Central and Boise State alum from Soldotna, delivered a breakthrough performance Saturday night, when she ran a personal best to win the 3,000-meter race over barriers and a water pit at the Portland Track Festival in Oregon.

Ostrander’s time of 9 minutes, 24.70 seconds trimmed 2.26 seconds off her previous best – 9:26.96 in 2021 – and made her America’s eighth-fastest women’s steeplechaser in 2024, according to World Athletics. She is 22nd-fastest in the world this year.

She briefly lost contact with the leaders midway through Saturday’s race, kept a steady pace that propelled her back into the mix and won going away with a 72-second final lap that was four seconds faster than any other competitor.

That wrapped Ostrander’s racing for the night, but not her work. Immediately following her victory, she paced the women’s 10,000-meter race for the first 3,000-plus meters.

Ostrander opened her season with a Trials qualifier of 9:37.65 at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational on April 26 and lowered her season best to 9:32.87 at the Los Angeles Grand Prix on May 11. So, through three races, she has slashed 13 seconds off her season best.

Ostrander was a three-time NCAA steeple champion at Boise State and represented Team USA in the event at the 2019 World Championships. She stepped away from the sport and her Seattle-based Brooks Beast team in 2021 to undergo treatment for an eating disorder, though she did finish eighth at the Olympic Trials that summer with that previous PB of 9:26.9.

Ostrander has since signed with shoe and apparel manufacturer NNormal, co-founded by former Mount Marathon champion Kilian Jornet, and last year began being coached by David Roche, who is based in Boulder, Colo., and is a ray of positivity.

Ostrander, herself a former Mount Marathon senior champ and six-time junior champ, has flourished under Roche. Prior to racing Saturday, she traveled to Boulder for an altitude camp with Roche, who paced her track workouts, which were well documented on her YouTube channel (60,000 subscribers) and Instagram accounts (130K subscribers).

Under Roche’s guidance, Ostrander finished fourth earlier this year at the U.S. Cross Country championships and 30th at the World Championships. She has competed in mountain/trail running, cross country and track in the last year to become a hybrid racer.

Next up for Ostrander, who lives in Seattle, is a preliminary heat in the steeplechase at the Olympic Trials July 24 in Eugene, Ore. The steeple final is set for June 27.

Steeplechaser Isaac Updike of Ketchikan was initially scheduled to race the 1,500 meters at the Portland Track Festival, but he decided to skip the meet and focus on training. Updike, who lives and trains at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz., and is sponsored by Under Armour, will race in the Trials preliminaries on June 21. The men’s final is June 23.