Horizon League Moments: Victoria Mitchell Wins NCAA Steeplechase Crown

Note: With the Horizon League celebrating the 10th anniversary of its name change, the League will be looking back at significant moments from the last 10 years. 

In its previous 26 years of existence, the Horizon League had hosted numerous NCAA Championship events, but had never crowned one of its own. In 2005, Butler's Victoria Mitchell changed all that, capturing the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship.

Having finished seventh in the previous outdoor championships, the 2004 Horizon League Cross Country Athlete of the Year and Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year stormed through qualifying, posting the fastest prelimary time at the 2005 championships, held in Sacramento, Calif. Two days later, the Australian broke away from the field with 300 meters left in the race, crossing the tape in 9:54.32, to claim the first NCAA title by a Horizon League student-athlete. The time was the second-fastest in the country that year, as Mitchell had posted a 9:53.24 the month prior.

20 days later, Mitchell would be award the Cecil N. Coleman Medal of Honor from the Horizon League, recognizing not only her athletic prowess, but her committment to service and academics as well. The five-time individual track champion, Mitchell earned ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team honors in 2005 and also helped organize the first Indiana Para-Track and Field meet, which was held in Indianapolis that spring.

Mitchell would continue to lower her Butler and Horizon League record in the steeplechase, finishing second at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, in August of 2005, clocking a time of 9:47.54. The silver medal performance stands as the best mark in Horizon League and Butler history in the steeplechase.

Continuing to hone her craft, Mitchell would represent Australia in the 2008 Olympic Games. The Mansfield, Victoria-native would finish 13th in her heat with a time of 9:47.88 in the first-ever women's steeplechase in the history of the Olympics.