EUGENE, Ore. – One more water jump, and Olivia Markezich was off to Paris. Steeplechase is a hazardous enterprise, but before the U.S. Olympic Trials, she had never fallen in any practice or race.
The Notre Dame runner cleared the barrier but stumbled coming out of the water. Two women passed her, and second place became fourth. Her ankle wobbled after clearing the final barrier, and she fell before she could summon one last burst.
She rose to her feet and finished, but fourth became sixth. If she is going to run in an Olympic Games, she must wait until Los Angeles 2028.
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“It was right there,” said Markezich, 23. “It’s my first meet as a pro, and I will have years left.
“I’ll be back.”
It was the deepest field the United States has ever assembled in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase — even without Emma Coburn, the 2017 world champion, and Courtney Frerichs, Olympic silver medalist and American record-holder.
Top three Thursday night were under the trials record of 9:09.41 set by Coburn in 2021. Top nine were under the Olympic standard of 9:23, all in personal bests.
Val Constien, coming off ACL surgery one year ago, was first in 9:03.22 to secure a return to the Olympics. Courtney Wayment was second in 9:06.50. Marisa Howard, 31, mother of a 2-year-old son, was third in 9:07.14.
Markezich was sixth in 9:14.87, making her the third-fastest collegian ever. She needed to be third-fastest in this race to make it to the Paris Olympics.
“You never know what can happen in the last 200 of a steeplechase,” she said. “Someone could fall. I never thought I would fall. You never think it’s going to happen to you. But it does.”
She is the daughter of former Microsoft executive Ron Markezich, a former Notre Dame runner. Olivia won last year’s NCAA steeple and was second at NCAAs earlier this month. Only other Notre Dame woman to be an NCAA outdoor champion was Molly Seidel, an Olympic marathon bronze medalist.
Coincidentally, another Indiana woman, Angelina Ellis, was coming off a fall in Monday’s steeple heats. She managed to qualify, and she finished 11thin 9:28.19.
Ellis, 25, a Butler graduate from Zionsville, had a breakout season after joining the Under Armour Dark Sky club in Flagstaff, Ariz.
“I’m happy I took that risk,” she said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be where I am today. I felt like I should keep running.”
Cole Hocker keeps running, too
After winning Monday’s 1,500 in a trials record of 3:30.59, he won his heat of the 5,000 in 13:33.45. TheCathedral High graduate conceded he felt effects of running three rounds of the 1,500.
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He was 12thin this 5,000 with two laps left, moved into the lead with one left and closed in 53.11. The 1,500 remains his focus for the Paris Olympics.
“I enjoy racing and I love winning,” Hocker said. “Checked off the big box, and see what I can do in this 5K.
“But I believe I can make this team as well. I don’t want to short-sell myself in a big year like this.”
How other Indiana athletes fared
Ben Veatch was eighth in that semifinal in 13:37.37, or .37 from reaching Sunday’s final. Veatch, 26, a five-time Big Ten champion at Indiana University and five-time state champion at Carmel, is weeks away from medical school.
This was, he said, his first and last Olympic Trials race.
“I’m satisfied with how I ran, how I competed,” Veatch said. “Just really blessed to be able to do this sport.”
Elsewhere, IU junior Camden Marshall was third in a heat of the 800 in 1:46.33 — also third overall — to advance to Friday's semifinals.
Women moving on to semifinals included Addy Wiley of Huntington, sixth in a heat of the 1,500 in 4:10.61; Ashley Spencer of Indianapolis, sixth in a heat of the 400 hurdles in 57.04, and Lynna Irby-Jackson, seventh in a heat of the 200 in 23.28.
Spencer, 31, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, did not have a qualifying time but had her entry accepted.
Eliminated in qualifying were Warren Central graduate Tacoria Humphrey, 16thin the long jump, and Lawrence Central’s Kamyren Garrett, 16thin the high jump. Both are at Illinois.
Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods atdwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
