by Eric Willuweit

Chicago, Ill. - On an unseasonably warm day back on April 14th, first-year Illinois Tech women's track and field high jumper Olivia Jameson established an early collegiate career-best and outdoor school record jump of 1.68 meters at the Wheaton Invitational. At the time, there was hope that leap would qualify Jameson for a trip to nationals. Those hopes turned into reality when the NCAA announced on May 19 that Jameson qualified for the high jump at the NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York on Thursday, May 25th.

Jameson was among the top 22 finishers nationally in Division III high jump, with her 1.68 meters tied with seven other competitors. Jameson will enter the competition as the number seventeen seed in the event. 

"We are very excited for Olivia to have the opportunity to compete with the best high jumpers in Division III" said Head Coach Tyler McQuality. "As a freshman, this is a great experience for her to learn for the years and championships to come. She represents Illinois Tech and our whole team on this journey as the first national qualifier in program history" said McQuality.

It has been a remarkable first collegiate season for Jameson, an Architecture major from Cloquet, Minn. In addition to becoming the first national qualifier in Illinois Tech track and field history, she also was named the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference(NACC) Freshman of the Year for both indoor and outdoor women's track and field. Jameson took first place honors in the high jump at the NACC Indoor Championships in late February with a jump of 1.63 meters, and matched that at the NACC Outdoor Championships in early May. In addition to setting school records for indoor and outdoor high jump, Jameson also set school records in the indoor 60-meter dash(8.24), indoor 60-meter hurdles(9.46), outdoor 110-meter hurdles(15.69), and the outdoor 4x100(52.64) and 4x400(4:10.30) relay teams.

"It's been a long and amazing year, not only for me but for everyone on the team, and there's been a ton of growth all around" said Jameson. "I'm excited to get the chance to compete against some amazing athletes and I know that getting to this point is just the beginning for the team and we're going to accomplish a lot more throughout the next couple of years."

The high jump event will start at 5:00 PM CT (6:00 PM ET) on Thursday, May 25th. A link to the live video for the event can be found HERE. Event live results can be found HERE.

Video of Olivia Jameson's high jump of 1.68 meters at the Wheaton Invitational on April 14, 2023: