Rick Riley (2015) - Hall of Fame - Washington State University Athletics

Rick Riley

Induction:
2015
Class:
1970

Rick Riley ran the national high school 2-mile record time of 8:48.3 in 1966 and became linked to another nationally-recognized elite runner from Spokane, Wash., WSU Hall of Fame member Gerry Lindgren. Riley had the number one prep times in the nation that year in the 3-mile, 5,000m and 10,000m races. The next year he joined Lindgren and the Cougar distance corps. At the 1969 NCAA Cross Country Championships, Lindgren won the title and Riley was the second WSU runner, 19th overall, earning All-America honors. Riley became the first Cougar to run a sub-four minute mile and he did it in a dramatic way. At the 1970 Pacific-8 Conference Championships in Los Angeles, Riley found himself in third place with 300 yards to go but with persevered and within 50 yards of the finish line shot between the Stanford and Oregon runners to hit the tape in a time of 3:59.2, not only the school’s first but also the first sub-four minute mile ever run at the Pac-8 Conference meet. Riley was a two-time 10k All-American in track with a runner-up finish in 1969 and sixth place in 1970. A boycott and then injuries twice derailed his Olympic dreams.