Six UW-Parkside track athletes earned first place finishes at Saturday's Wisconsin Lutheran Warrior Track Meet held in Milwaukee.
The Ranger women tallied four of victories, with Whitney Olson (400m Dash, 1:01. 53), Jessica Watychowicz (1500m Run, 4:55.23), Charlotte Smith (High Jump, 5' 1"), and Julia Bernstein (5000m Run, 19:31.86) emerging victorious.
Third place finishes were turned in by Olson (1500m 4:57.81), Watychowicz (400, 1:05.42) and Smith (200m, 28.69).
The UWP men won two events. Dustin Baldwin (3000m Steeplechase, 10:20.27) and Phil Simac (10000m Run, 34:05.84) triumphed.
Second place finishes were turned in by Alex Mena (1500m, 4:07.84) and Matt Vidas (10000m Run, 34:42.71).
The UWP women placed fifth with 61 points out of the eight teams participating. Judson College won the meet with 136.5. The UWP men placed seventh with 42 points out of the 10 teams participating. Harper JC won the event with 157 points.
ORVOLD EARNS PROVISIONAL MARK AT NC STATE
Ben Orvold improved on his career best 10,000m Run by 59 seconds when he finished third in the seeded 10,000m Run at the North Carolina State Raleigh Relays this past weekend. Orvold's time of 30:22.99 met the NCAA II Provisional Qualifying mark in the event.
The winner of the event was University of North Carolina's Zack Dawson (30:08.06). The runner-up was Jon Phillips of the New York AC (30:19.21). The race was a highly competitive event with 11 runners in the lead pack through 6 km, when Dawson and Phillips struck out from the pack.
Orvold, and a pack of five continued to work together and over the final 2km. He worked his way to within striking distance of Phillips on the final 400m. His 5km split was 15:15. The field of 24 runners was predominately a Division I field. His mark from this race is 8 seconds faster than last year's Division II National Meet.
Coach Mike De Witt commented on Orvolds efforts: "Ben has been very patient over the past 2 1/2 years, working at increasing his mileage and learning how to measure his efforts. He has been doing a great job."
MELVILLE SET MARK IN WINNING 5000m RACE WALK
Miranda Melville broke her own meet record in the Raleigh Relays Open 5000m Race Walk. Her time of 24:42.80 beat the mark she established in winning the event last spring (25:07.63). Teammate Le'erin Voss finished second with a time of 25:56.88. Melville topped co-ed field of 13 walkers. Each walker earned career best marks in the race as well.
Christie earns a third place in the unseeded 1500m Run
Hope Christie finished third overall in the unseeded section of the 1500m Run. There was a total of four sections in the event and a total of 92 runners that competed. Her time was 4:42.15. Jacqueline Burns of the University of Buffalo won the event with a time of 4:39.98.
Heidi Ertl placed 18th in the seeded women's 10,000m Run. Her time of 37:50.16 was just 8 seconds off of her previous best. Jen Harpp of Slippery Rock won the event with a time of 34:45.44.
Coach Mike De Witt commented on the UWP women's racing efforts at NC State: "Miranda Melville and Le'erin Voss did an excellent job. The opportunity to compete in a race walk as part of a big meet doesn't happen often, so it was great that the women had the chance to travel and compete as a part of the track program. They have done an outstanding job over the past 2 years, competing at the U.S. national level, earning Top 6 finishes at the U.S. level, making international teams. It was good to be recognized as part of this meet. Hope Christie had a lot of traffic in her 1500m race and had to break stride and avoid traffic more than a hand full of times in the three and 3/4 laps. She still maintained her poise and challenged for the overall win. Heidi Ertl ran a very solid race and competed against a very good field of Division I runners."
