Six athletes with Washington ties not attending in-state schools qualify for NCAA finals...

In addition to those athletes representing Washington schools who qualified for the NCAA Division I track and field championship finals at the West and East Preliminary round in Fayetteville, Arkansas (West) and Bloomington, Indiana (East), six athletes with Washington ties qualified for the national finals in Eugene in two weeks.

Olivia Markezich (photo courtesy Notre Dame Athletics), who was an All-American last fall in cross country at the University of Notre Dame, and qualified for both the NCAA outdoor championships and the US Olympic Trials in the steeplechase, advanced to her second straight national championship appearance with a second place finish.

The Woodinville native and graduate of The Bear Creek School ran a personal best time of 9:41.76 in a second place finish on Saturday at the East regionals in Bloomington.

Markezich, whose twin sister Andrea runs for the University of Washington, won the ACC steeplechase crown two weeks earlier.

Jacob Brueckman of Colorado State, a product of Issaquah HS, finished fifth in the 1500 meters at the West regionals in Fayetteville, running 3:39.04 on Friday.

Kenneth Rooks, a graduate of College Place HS in Eastern Washington near Walla Walla, finished fifth in the West regionals in the steeplechase, running 8:34.91 for the Cougars of Brigham Young.

Curtis HS graduate Lexi Ellis of Oregon, the reigning Pac-12 champion, qualified for the national championship in the triple jump with her seventh place finish, bounding 44-0.5 (13.42m). Her Oregon teammate, Iman Brown from Garfield HS in Seattle, qualified in the 200, finishing eighth in the West regional in a personal best 22.71.

Kemuel Santana, who graduated from the University of Washington in 2021 but had athletic eligibility remaining, is listed on the roster of the University of Florida's 4 x 400 meter relay team which qualified for the national championships in Bloomington, as the Gators won the East regionals with a time of 3:01.22.

Please bring attention to anyone who we missed by leaving a note in the comments section.

The complete list of qualified individuals and teams to the NCAA Division I track and field chanpionships in Eugene are available here.

NOTE: The University of Arkansas and University of Indiana sports information office, the \and the NCAA contributed to this report.

paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links.