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.