EUGENE — The person most surprised about the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase winner Thursday night at Hayward Field was the winner.

OK, that’s not precisely true. But close.

Valerie Constien won the Olympic trials steeplechase by using a powerful kick, posting a meet-record time of 9 minutes, 3.22 seconds. Constein will be joined in Paris by Courtney Wayment, who was a distant second, and third-place Marisa Howard, formerly of Boise State.

Oregon State grad Kaylee Mitchell ran a career-best 9:14.05 to finish fifth.

A year ago, Constien wrote off the OIympic trials after undergoing surgery for a torn ACL in May 2023. Even as late as this spring, she was looking to get back to running and a healthy 2025. But things came together race by race. She qualified for the Olympic trials. Then on May 25, Constien ran a sizzling 9:14.29 at the Prefontaine Classic.

“After Pre I was like, I’m probably going to do more than participate at the trials,” said the 28-year-old Constien, who ran at Colorado.

Running in Thursday night’s final wasn’t the be all, end all for Constien. After surgery, Constien was committed to being patient, so much so that she wrote off the 2024 Olympics.

“I didn’t think I was going to be here, to be perfectly honest,” Constien said. “It’s a bummer. I’m going to miss 2024, but at least I’ll be healthy for 2025. I think taking that pressure off and just really focusing on trying to be healthy and do everything right was how I got to this point.”

Annie Rodenfels dominated the first half of the race, leading by some 50 meters at one point. But Rodenfels began to fade on the fifth of eight laps, and a pack of seven runners soon ran past her.

With two laps left, Constien, Wayment, Howard and Olivia Markezich began to separate. Wayment was on Constien’s shoulder when the final lap started, but not for long. Constien thundered home with a 65-second final 400 to easily beat Wayment.

“I’m a pretty good closer,” Constien said. “I knew that if I was in the mix in the last 300, it would be pretty tough to beat me.”

Two Olympic hopefuls weren’t as fortunate as Constien. Krissy Gear, one of the race favorites, didn’t finish the race. Markezich, who was battling Wayment and Howard for second with 75 meters left, tripped and fell in the stretch. She placed sixth.

Markezich said she’s never fallen during a steeplechase race or practice.

“This is a tough meet to do it,” she said.

As for Mitchell, she claimed to leave everything on the track. As she spoke to the media, she had to stop twice, overwhelmed by emotion. Three years ago, Mitchell finished last in her Olympic trials steeplechase preliminary. Thursday, she ran with the country’s best for six of eight laps before finishing a credible fifth.

“I’m really proud of myself. I’m not used to feeling proud,” said Mitchell, a Sprague High grad. “I never would have thought I’d be standing here doing this. … I always feel super excited and super happy when I see my name in something like this because it hasn’t always been that way.”

Mitchell said she ran exactly to plan. She and her coach, Bowerman’s Jerry Schumacher, thought the race would be run in around 9:14.

“It ended up being significantly faster than that, but I feel like I executed my race plan,” Mitchell said. “There’s nothing I could have done differently.”

-- Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.

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