MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A promising newcomer made a historic leap for the Notre Dame girls' track and field program Wednesday at the Spring Fling.
Olivia Mroz, the only freshman to reach the high jump finals in the Division II-A girls' meet, became the program's first athlete to win a TSSAA state championship in the event. She cleared the bar in her first attempt at 5 feet, 2 inches, breaking the Lady Fighting Irish record by an inch.
Mroz is the fifth Notre Dame athlete to win state in high jump, with Henry Crutcher in 2006 the most recent of four boys' champions for the school. Adarius Bowman won the event three times in a row (2001-03), with David Bouie (1992) and Ronie Readus (1989) the other winners for the Irish.
"This is my first year running track. At first I just wanted to do it to keep in shape for soccer, but I ended up falling in love with the sport," Mroz said while wearing her new hardware at Middle Tennessee State University. "When I first tried the high jump a little over a month ago, I could just barely clear 4-foot-8. To hit a new school record and win state today is so crazy and means the world to me."
With a jump of 5-1 in practice last week, the progress was apparent for Mroz.
After clearing 5-0 on her third and final attempt to stay in championship contention Wednesday, the spring-loaded athlete had no trouble at the winning height. Grace Christian Academy's Aubrey Lane cleared 5-2 on her second attempt to finish as the runner-up, while Battle Ground Academy's Laurel Phelps did so on her third try to earn the bronze medal.
"When she cleared 5-foot-2, Olivia was shocked and I just jumped up and down, throwing my fists in the air," Notre Dame jumps coach Jonathan Adams said. "That moment was so special for the entire program. To think she is just a freshman is unbelievable."
Mroz became Notre Dame's first state champion in track and field in any discipline since 2008.
"Learning the high jump was difficult because you have to have great form," Mroz said. "However, I used to do gymnastics until I was 7, and I think having that background really helped me get a good arch. After that, it just really fell into play."
The Chattanooga area had four individual state champions at the Division II meets on a rainy day.
In DII-AA, Baylor junior Evie Culbreath starred in several events, which included a winning time of 14.55 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, and GPS senior Emily Kreek raced to a first-place finish in the 300 hurdles (43.56) and was runner-up in the 100 hurdles.
Culbreath had second-place finishes in the 200-meter dash (25.72) and long jump (17-3) to help the Lady Red Raiders to a third-place finish in the team standings with 80 points, behind Harpeth Hall (121) and Ensworth (105.5).
McCallie junior Hugh Carlson was the 3200 champion at 9:36.25 and runner-up in the 1600 at 4:22. After winning the team title last season, the Blue Tornado finished second with 105 points as Christian Brothers won the DII-AA boys' championship with 124 points.
Other state runner-up finishes for the Chattanooga area in DII-AA were fielded by GPS athletes Mariah Ivery (400, 58.11) and Louisa Bohner (shot put, 44-2 1/2), Baylor's Garrison Conley (800, 1:58.37) and McCallie's Joseph Eldridge (pole vault, 13-6). In 4x800 relays, McCallie and Baylor's girls were both second.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.