Members of the UW-Parkside track team split up to take part in various events last weekend. The following chronicles their competitions.
UWP RUNNERS EARN PROVISIONAL MARKS AT MT. SAC RELAYS
Each of the three UWP runners that competed at the Mount SAC Relays over the weekend earned career best times and NCAA II Provisional Qualifying Times in their events. The Mt. SAC Relays were held in Walnut, California.
Junior Ben Orvold ran the 10,000-meter in a time of 30:11.88, improving on his best from three weekends ago at North Carolina State by 11 seconds. Orvold finished in eighth place out of 47 runners in the College Section of the meet.
Hope Christie ran a career best time of 4:35.79 in the 1500m. She finished third in the sixth out of nine sections of the College Sections of the event. Overall, she placed 37th out of 88 runners. Christie's previous best was set at last spring's GLVC Meet (4:37.55). Heidi Ertl ran a career best in the 10,000m Run with a time of 37:06.65 in the College Section of the meet. She finished 25th out of 48 runners in the race and improved on her previous best of 37:38.25 set at this meet last year.
Watychowicz races at the Beach Invitational
Jessica Watychowicz rounded out the weekend of racing in California when she placed 32nd out 65 runners in the 800m Run at the Long Beach State "Beach Invitational" held at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California. Watychowicz placed sixth in the third of eight sections in the event with a time of 2:18.22, which was her second best time ever. Last weekend she ran 2:16.99 at UW-Whitewater.
Olson, Mena, and Baldwin Win at Wisconsin Lutheran Relays
Whitney Olson, Alex Mena, and Dustin Baldwin won their events at the Wisconsin Lutheran Relays held Saturday in Milwaukee.
Olson took the 800m with a time of 2:19.01, a career best mark by 1.2 seconds. Mena was the winner in the Men's 800m with a time of 1:59.85 and Dustin Baldwin won the 10,000m Run with a time of 34:38.92.
Coach Mike De Witt commented on the UWP team racing over the weekend: "The California group did an excellent job with the opportunity to compete against the finest runners from around the country in a couple of great meets. In all cases, it was great to see the athletes race smart and sticking right in the front of their sections on the way to earning career best performances as well. In the case of Orvold and Christie, their times are under the marks that earned National Meet trips last spring. The Wisconsin Lutheran group competed in the sunny and very windy conditions of the Milwaukee track on Saturday. The group competed well, according to Grad Assistant Rob Hansen, not letting the conditions affect their racing intensity."