Prior to his junior season in 1989, Olerud was running indoors on campus on January 11 when he collapsed; hospitalized in Pullman, he was airlifted to Spokane later in the day, accompanied by his father. He was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which caused bleeding into the spinal column. He remained in the hospital for about two weeks after the seizure and lost , but was back in class by the end of January. A few weeks later in Seattle, further examinations revealed a brain aneurysm, and he underwent surgery in late February.