Notre Dame senior Olivia Markezich capped off the season with a national championship Saturday night at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at the University of Texas in Austin.
Markezich set a meet record in the 3000-meter steeplechase to win in 9:25.03, the third-best time in collegiate history and an improvement of more than 10 seconds on her personal best. She won the event by more than five seconds.
Markezich, of Woodinville, Wash., entered Saturday’s final as the top seed after posting a time of 9:40.82 in Thursday’s semifinal. She won the event a few weeks ago at the Outdoor ACC Championships in a time of 9:40.65. Her personal best had been 9:35.80.
Analysis:Jack Swarbrick navigated Notre Dame athletics through complicated waters
Markezich is Notre Dame’s second women’s national champion this academic year after Jadin O’Brien won the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor nationals. O’Brien finished seventh in the event at this past weekend’s outdoor event.
On the men’s side, both John Keenan and Carter Solomon — two standouts at this year’s Outdoor ACC Championships — earned All-America status for Notre Dame. Keenan took seventh place with a 75.96M mark in the javelin event, shattering his previous school record of 72.06M. Solomon also finished seventh overall in the 5000M event, crossing the finish line at 14:09.57.
Texas won its fifth women’s outdoor track and field title, behind Julien Alfred’s sweep of the 100 and 200 meters. The Longhorns scored 83 team points in the win, beating Florida in second place with 51 points.
Florida won the men’s outdoor track and field title. The Gators scored 57 team points in the win, beating Arkansas in second place with 53 points.
