By John Brice
Special Contributor
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Before the first visit, before the official visit, and before she fell in love with Notre Dame, Olivia Markezich had a sweatshirt and memories.
Growing up in Woodinville, Washington, snuggled just north of Seattle and near Puget Sound, Markezich and her twin sister, Andrea, had the stories of her father’s own turn at Notre Dame. Ron Markezich was the school’s record-holder in the 10k for some two decades – but until junior year of high school, she had never made the 2,100-mile cross-country trek.
“He definitely talked a lot about his college stories, but he also always wanted this to be my decision,” Olivia Markezich said. “My whole life, I always thought Notre Dame was a great place, and Dad talked so highly of it.
“I was the kid who wore a Notre Dame sweatshirt all the time. It was the favorite sweatshirt that I wore. Even before I visited, I just always knew it was a great place, great academics, athletics, a great community.”
Today, Olivia Markezich can replace her childhood Fighting Irish wardrobe with her own Notre Dame Monogram jacket; wear a national championship model, should she choose to do so.
Some five years after initially visiting Notre Dame’s bucolic campus with father and sister the weekend of the primetime, nationally televised 2018 Michigan-Notre Dame football clash, Olivia Markezich is a school record-holder, the 2023 NCAA Steeplechase Champion and en route to a burgeoning professional career.
Far cry from that 17-year-old who showed up on a September weekend, ran with the Irish’s team at that time and dreamed of perhaps the opportunity to become … an Irish runner.
“It’s been a really unique development, honestly,” said Notre Dame Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Matt Sparks, almost a decade into his tenure in South Bend. “Traditionally our Notre Dame kids have come in as what you would call a five-star high school recruit, but Olivia was a walk-on. She’s a legacy kid, her dad was the school recorder holder in the 10k for 20 years, so honestly, I was more familiar with her dad than her.
“As she’ll tell you as well, she was just excited to be part of the team.”
Hopes and dreams, however, did not betray Olivia’s golden-hued vision; she still visited Washington, Portland, Cornell and held ongoing recruiting discussions with Baylor and Cal-Berkeley before she ever formally pledged to the Irish.
A rash decision wasn’t embraced by the close-knit family; an eventual Notre Dame commitment meant a Notre Dame commitment – blustery winter weather and all.
“Instead of taking my official recruiting visit in the fall, Dad told me to see it in winter,” said Olivia, an indoor and outdoor All-America selection who has developed into one of the program’s all-time most decorated competitors. “I’d never experienced a Midwest winter before, so we arranged our visit to be in January.
“I already knew from previous experiences, I’d gone again my senior year and ran with the team again, as well, after knowing some girls on the team, so I realized that I did want to go to Notre Dame and other schools didn’t really measure up.”
Accordingly, she adjusted her wardrobe before that mid-January sojourn.
“The week before my visit was the Polar Vortex, it was pretty brutal,” Markezich said of the winter coldfront that ushered in feels-like temperatures more than minus-30 degrees Fahrenheit in the South Bend area. “It was snowy, very cold, I like didn’t really have a winter coat because I didn’t need one in Seattle. So, I bought a parka and I’m like, ‘OK, I’m in it now. I’m getting an actual jacket.’ I just remember I thought it was really pretty. It didn’t scare me away. Honestly, it helped me prepare mentally.”
In four-plus years of coaching Markezich, Sparks has seen that mental fortitude on display time and again; from Olivia’s humble approach to carve a spot on the team to her multiple All-America, record-setting performances.
The key, the veteran coach explained, has been Markezich’s relentless evolution as competitor; hardly a finished product upon her arrival beneath the Golden Dome, Markezich likewise has manifested ongoing improvement.
“Olivia’s really learned how to race a complete race, especially over the last six months,” Sparks said. “When you see her 3k (a recent December) weekend, second-fastest time, a lot of that is that her maturation process has just been a confidence in herself. When you talk to her from freshman year to now as a graduate student, she’s really found her voice. That has translated to her ability to run complete races when the gun goes off.
“In racing, there’s no timeout; she has to be confident and think fast on the fly. We’ve really seen it correlate.”
Markezich’s career arc evolved physically, too. She arrived at Notre Dame and began to implement Sparks’s plan to log 30 miles per week. Intentional with how that plan was escalated, Markezich has ascended to 60 miles per week – sometimes more – in her training efforts. She has logged countless miles on the Irish’s Loftus Center but also hasn’t fully yielded to Mother Nature.
Some of those cold weather runs, which have included various icy mishaps for all the runners, have been emblazoned into her memory.
She has burnished more than 20 all-conference and All-America accolades across her career, but Markezich fashioned a dream-come-true path extended well beyond personal records and finish-line results.
“It’s been such a great career, definitely more than I’d hoped for,” said Markezich, who noted that her Steeplechase national title resonated all the more as she hugged her family after the finish line and reflected on all her coaches and teammates who helped cement her journey. “Continuing to improve every year is all you want as an athlete.
“Notre Dame as a whole has just given me so many amazing memories, has put me around the best people ever.”