IT WAS A SIMPLE STRATEGEM Olivia Markezich needed to employ if she wanted to win the steeplechase. “I have a bad habit of letting the leader get away from me,” the Notre Dame junior explained. “I didn’t want to lead the race. At the same time, I needed to stay on the leader and not lose contact with her.”
That plan worked to perfection. Greta Karinauskaitė, the favored Lithuanian junior from Cal Baptist, jolted to a lead within the first 100m and pushed the pace. Markezich, whose dad also ran for the Irish, tried to stay close.
At the halfway point, Karinauskaitė had a 10-meter lead and was running smoothly as she glided over the barriers and got good push over the water. Markezich appeared to chop her steps slightly as she approached the barriers, which seemed to contribute to her gap behind Karinauskaitė.
Meanwhile, some separation was occurring as a distinct chase pack was developing. Ceili McCabe (West Virginia), Lexi Halladay-Lowry (BYU), Elise Thorner (New Mexico), Grace Fetherstonhaugh (Oregon State) and her teammate Kaylee Mitchell rotated in the 3–7 spots some 15-20m behind the leaders. With 3 laps to go, Mitchell raced in 3rd, a step ahead of Thorner. But nothing was clear cut as only 1.25 seconds separated the 5.
At the completion of lap 7, Karinauskaitė, who won her national title with an NR 9:50.26 last summer, had her biggest lead at 2.65 seconds. But Markezich was matching her stride for stride.
When the bell sounded, it seemed to energize the Fighting Irish runner. She was in full sprint at the apex of the curve and kept going. Down the backstretch, she caught Karinauskaitė who now looked a bit deflated as they approached the final water jump.
Markezich continued to stretch the lead and won going away, 9:25.03–9:30.85. The winner’s time was a substantial PR, bettering the 9:40.65 with which she won the ACC.
“I came into the season believing that I could break 9:30,” Markezich said after moving to No. 3 on the all-time collegiate list. “But I didn’t know if I could do it here because of the heat. It’s so exciting to win something I’ve been dreaming about!”
The order of the chase pack was in constant flux. Big 12 champ McCabe had been in 6th during the middle part of the race but finished strongly in 3rd (9:41.32), same spot as last year but a bit slower than her 9:31.14 in ’22. Halladay-Lowry was less than a step behind in 4th (9:41.85). Thorner matched her 5th place from ’22 running 9:42.95 here.
WOMEN’S STEEPLE RESULTS
FINAL (June 10; exterior waterjump)
1. *Olivia Markezich (NDm) 9:25.03 PR (3, 3 C, NCAA)
(73.83, 2:34.51, 3:58.55, 5:21.03)
(04.47, 77.44 [1:21.91], 80.73 [2:42.64], 81.36 [4:04.00], 82.48 [5:26.48], 84.04 [6:50.52], 80.68 [8:11.20], 73.83) ;
2. *Greta Karinauskaitė’ (CalB-Lit) 9:30.85 (7, 8 NCAA)
(81.00, 2:42.68, 4:05.30, 5:27.33);
3. *Ceili McCabe’ (WV-Can) 9:41.32 (77.62, 2:43.01, 4:08.72, 5:32.40);
4. *Lexy Halladay-Lowry (BYU) 9:41.85 PR (78.70, 2:43.54, 4:09.80, 5:33.89);
5. *Elise Thorner’ (NM-GB) 9:42.95 (79.40, 2:44.90, 4:10.97, 5:34.40);
6. Grace Fetherstonhaugh’ (OrSt-Can) 9:49.48; 7. Kaylee Mitchell (OrSt) 9:49.66; 8. Pauline Meyer’ (ArSt-Ger) 9:50.75; 9. Angelina Ellis (Butler) 9:55.53; 10. Kayley Delay (Wa) 9:56.63; 11. *Calli Doan (Lib) 9:56.83; 12. *Maisie Grice’ (NM-GB) 10:11.62.
SEMIS (June 08)
I–1. Mitchell 9:51.46; 2. Thorner’ 9:51.56; 3. Fetherstonhaugh’ 9:52.02; 4. Ellis 9:52.13; 5. Grice’ 9:52.14; 6. Doan 9:52.15 PR; 7. *Lona Latema’ (Ks-Ken) 9:58.30; 8. *Olivia Morganti (Penn) 10:05.04; 9. **Victoria Patterson (Col) 10:05.68; 10. Katie Thronson (NDm) 10:12.82; 11. Lydia Olivere (Vill) 10:18.93; 12. Emily Cole (Duke) 10:25.42.
II–1. Markezich 9:40.81; 2. Karinauskaitė’ 9:40.87; 3. Halladay-Lowry 9:42.35; 4. McCabe’ 9:48.53; 5. Delay 9:50.08; 6. Meyer’ 9:51.86; 7. Katelyn Mitchem (Wy) 9:56.18; 8. Emma Tavella (UCLA) 9:56.93; 9. *Janette Schraft (IaSt) 10:05.58; 10. *Carmen Riaño (MiaO) 10:17.01; 11. Aziza Chigatayeva (Bing) 10:22.86; 12. Kristel Van Den Berg’ (Ms-Neth) 10:31.22.