AZUSA, Calif. – Heptathletes, distance runners and the steeple squad from North Dakota began competition at the Bryan Clay Invitational on Wednesday and competed until the early hours of Thursday morning in North Dakota time.

The North Dakota steeple crew and distance team put together the most remarkable performances with three school records broken. The Hawks also added two additional improvements to the UND top-10 lists.

Nelson Ruto was the final Fighting Hawk to compete and did not disappoint, shattering the school record in the Invitational 10,000 meters in the early minutes of Thursday morning with a personal-best time of 29:49.79. His time broke the program record of 30:05.24 set by Josh LaBlanc in 2011.

If the regular season ended today, Ruto's time would be on the bubble of qualifying for the NCAA West Preliminary Round, as his time would currently rank No. 55 in the west region. The top-48 marks in the region earn bids to the NCAA West Preliminary Round at the end of the season.

Jadyn Keeler made headlines breaking the 3,000-meter steeplechase school record in her group in a time of 10:57.49, bettering her previous best by over 10 seconds. With her time, she broke the school record of Veronica Sackett who ran a time of 10:58.70 in 2004. If the regular season ended today, Keeler's time would have a chance at qualifying for the NCAA West Preliminary Round, as her time currently ranks No. 52 in the region.

In the earlier 3,000-meter steeplechase group, Greta McLagan trimmed nearly 14 seconds off her previous personal-best and ran a PR time of 11:25.62 in her heat, good for the No. 5 time in school history.

Luke Labatte broke his own school record in his 3,000-meter steeplechase group and improved it by over seven seconds with a personal-best time of 8:54.44. If the regular season ended today, that time would rank No. 27 regionally and qualify him for the NCAA West Preliminary Round. His time currently ranks No. 43 in the NCAA.

With the large number of multi eventers competing at the meet, the heptathletes were split into groups and competed in various clusters throughout the day. Elle Thorson went first with section three, followed by Erica Benson and Brooklynn Gould in section two. Elise Ulseth drew section one and was the final heptathlete to compete.

Thorson was impressive in her section throughout the day, currently sitting in second with 2,867 points and is also the top collegiate competitor in her group. She recorded personal bests in all four heptathlon events, starting the day in the 100-meter hurdles with a PR time of 15.46 and improving her previous best by over one second. In the high jump, Thorson also recorded an improvement with a personal-best leap of 5-3 1/4 (1.61m) to finish tied for the second-best jump in her section. Her most notable mark came in the shot put, where she obliterated her previous best of 31-7 1/4 (9.63m) with a toss of 34-8 1/2 (10.58m). Thorson finished her day putting down a PR time of 26.30 in the 200 meters to run the fifth-best time in her section.

In section two of the heptathlon, Benson was the top Hawk through the first four events and sits seventh with 3,049 points. Benson's most impressive showing came in the shot put where she smashed her previous best of 35-1 1/4 (10.70m) with a PR throw of 38-1 1/2 (11.62m). She also had a personal-best time of 15.17 in the 100-meter hurdles. Benson finished with the fourth-best high jump mark in her section with a clearance of 5-4 1/2 (1.64m).

Gould also competed in section two of the heptathlon and is 17th with 2,872 points. Her top performance came in the 100-meter hurdles where she threw down a personal-best time of 14.82, good for the No. 9 time in program history in the event. Gould also tied her personal-best leap of 4-11 3/4 (1.52m) in the high jump, while also running a PR of 25.62 in the 200 meters.

Ulseth was the final heptathlete to compete and is 12th in section one with 3,176 points. Ulseth finished the day with PR's in both the shot put (36-11, 11.25m) and 200 meters (25.66). Her improvement in the 200 meters was almost a full second off her previous best. Ulseth will need 2,325 points through the next three events on Thursday to improve her current school-record point total of 5,500 points set at Texas earlier this season.

The heptathletes, distance and mid-distance groups will resume competition at the Bryan Clay Invitational at 9 a.m. (CT) on Thursday, while select Fighting Hawks will travel to Long Beach, Calif., to compete in the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate with the first events at that meet starting at 11 a.m. (CT). Live results for all meets can be followed on FightingHawks.com.