Ben Orvold captured the Great Lakes Valley Championship in the 5000m Run to pace the UW-Parkside Men's Track Team to an eighth place finish in the Indoor Championships held in UWP's Petretti Fieldhouse.
Orvold's winning time of 14:46.57 was a 9-second victory over runner-up Dustin Emerick of Southern Indiana. Orvold also earned the UWP men's second best individual finish of the meet with a third place in the 3000m run. His time was 8:46.26.
Alex Mena and
Rehan Mahmood each earned fifth place finishes in their respective events. Mena ran a career best of 1:57.59 in the 800m and Mahmood turned in his best ever at the 3000m run with a time of 8:50.11.
The remainder of the teams points came from the Distance Medley Relay Team of Mahmood,
Alex Linck, Mena, and
Dustin Baldwin. The team placed sixth with a time of 10:41.26. The 4 x 400m relay team of Linck, Mena, Baldwin, and
Bryan McLoone placed eighth with a time of 3:39.19.
The UWP men totalled 28 points. The University of Indianapolis won the event, edging out Missouri S&T by a score of 171.5 to 167.5.
UWP Coach Mike De Witt commented on the GLVC Championships: "It was great to be on our home track for this years meet. Our team did an excellent job on day two of the meet. The team raced strong after a rough first day on Friday. The adjustments to racing with your focus on energy management during the first half led to some excellent racing with their heart. We had several strong finishes and there was an excellent positive energy that grew during the day. There were a lot of pluses to competing at home and some extra work for our squad. It was a good meet and a lot of fun."
