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Athlete of the Week

Jorgensen headshot

Oliver Jorgensen

  • Award
    Athlete of the Week
  • Week Of
    5/21/2014
  • Sport
    Track and Field - M
  • Bio
    View Full Bio
Allendale, MI - The NCAA has announced the field for the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship, hosted by the Grand Valley State University Lakers and two Simon Fraser University Clan athletes will compete as Sarah Sawatzky (Chilliwack, BC) qualified in the 800-metre and Oliver Jorgensen (Abbotsford, BC) qualified in the 3000-metre steeplechase.

It will be Sawatzky's last meet with the Clan as the senior is finishing her final season that included a trip the NCAA Championship and a GNAC 800-metre championship during the indoor portion of the schedule and a second place finish in the 800-metre at the GNAC outdoor championship as she was just edged at the finish line by McKayla Fricker of SPU.

Fricker won the race in 2:09.15 while Sawatzky finished second in 2:09.25.

She qualified for the NCAA Championship thanks to her time of 2:09.15 which she recorded at the Oregon State University High Performance Meet. Her time was an NCAA Provisional Standard, just shy of the automatic mark of 2:09.00 but by far good enough to qualify as Sawatzky enters the championship with the 10th best time in NCAA Division II this season.

"I feel ready to go and hope to run a fast time at nationals," said Sawatzky. "My goal is to make the final and leave the race having no regrets. I'm really excited to see what happens. I'm also thrilled that Oliver is coming as well. I think he's going to have a great race."

Jorgensen will make history when he competes for SFU at the championship as he will become the first male track and field athlete to reach the NCAA Championship for the Clan since SFU joined the NCAA.

The freshman won the conference championship in the steeplechase last week, winning in a time of 9:17.20.

In the race, Alaska Anchorage's Micah Chelimo, who is the top ranked runner in the 5k and 10k in NCAA Division II, crashed in the water jump and Jorgensen took advantage.

With three other runners between Jorgensen and first place, the Clan freshman took off with three laps to go and took the lead, putting a gap between himself and the field and withstanding charges from both Western Washington and Western Oregon.

His best time this season was 9:09.38 which he ran at the Mount Sac Relays which was an NCAA Provisional qualifier.

"I'm really proud to make nationals as a freshman," said Jorgensen. "I barely missed qualifying individually in cross country and my goal has been to qualify in outdoor track so its a good way to end it. The transition into SFU couldn't have gone any better. It was smooth and I've rmatured as a person and an athlete. At the championship, my goal is to make the final and hopefully earn All-American status. I look forward to representing the Clan with Sarah at the championship and working to improve over the next few years."

Jorgensen will start the NCAA Championship with the preliminary run of the 3000-metre steeplechase next Thursday, May 22 at 3:45 p.m. PST while Sawatzky will run the 800-metre preliminary race on Friday at 3:15 p.m. PST.


Athlete Awards
Date Athlete Sport
10/1/2017 Emma Pringle Soccer - W
9/23/2017 Kirsten Pinkney Volleyball - W
9/17/2017 Gavin Cobb Football
9/10/2017 Julia Howley Cross Country - W
9/4/2017 Miles Richardson Football
5/27/2017 Vladislav Tsygankov Track and Field - M
5/13/2017 Katherine Lucas Track and Field - W
5/7/2017 Addy Townsend Track and Field - W
4/30/2017 Hailey Gearey Softball
4/25/2017 Emily Leung Golf - W
4/10/2017 Katherine Lucas Track and Field - W
3/19/2017 Taylor Lundrigan Softball
3/12/2017 Addy Townsend Track and Field - W
3/5/2017 Ellen Kett Basketball - W
2/26/2017 Othniel Spence Basketball - M
2/18/2017 Vladislav Tsygankov Track and Field - M
2/12/2017 Meg Wilson Basketball - W
2/5/2017 Daniel Kelloway Track and Field - M
1/28/2017 Jessie Gibson Swimming - W
1/21/2017 N'Kosi Kedar Salam Basketball - M
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