The Bear Creek School’s Andrea and Olivia Markezich signed their national letters of intent on Nov. 13 to run at the University of Washington and Notre Dame, respectively, next season.

Olivia took eighth in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship West Regionals on Dec. 1 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California, and earned an automatic invitation to compete in the national finals on Dec. 8 at Morley Field, Balboa Park in San Diego. She ran the regionals race in 18:21.1.

Olivia finished 36th with a time of 19:15 at nationals.

“Today wasn’t my best performance – I could have done better, but it was still a great experience,” she said. “I usually am able to pick up the pace after each mile, but this was a super fast race. At Mt Sac (West Regional), which had smaller hills, I was able to catch up to girls on the down side, but here at nationals the hill was longer and much more steep so I wasn’t able to do that. To get to race against some of the runners who you read about is just awesome.”

Olivia Markezich, second from far right, finishes the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship West Regionals race. Courtesy photo