March 2, 2010
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - Navy senior Mark Van Orden (Morris Plains, N.J.) has been selected as the Patriot League Men's Indoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second-straight winter, it was announced today by the league office.
Van Orden is just the second men's track athlete to have received the award (Michael Niemi collected the outdoor track scholar-athlete nod in 2005-06) and the ninth Midshipmen to be tabbed as the league's top scholar-athlete of the year in their respective sport twice in a career.
"Mark is the consummate student-athlete," said Navy head coach Steve Cooksey. "He is a natural leader and a phenomenal athlete. He is the kind of young man coaches dream of having the opportunity to coach."
Van Orden, Navy's indoor team captain and a four-time Patriot League individual champion, has set a high standard of excellence both on-and-off the track during his tenure in Annapolis.
A 2009 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Third-Team Academic All-American, Van Orden owns a 3.62 grade-point average and ranks 84th in Overall Order of Merit, combining both the academic and military disciplines, among the 1,068 midshipmen in the Class of 2010.
The Morris Plains, N.J. native also ranks 18th amongst his classmates in Military Order of Merit, has been named to the Commandant's List in all seven semesters at the Academy and earned Superintendent's List mention five times. An English major, Van Orden has already attained a minor in German and has received a service assignment of Navy pilot. His leadership capabilities have also been lauded, as evidenced by his selection as Regimental Commander for this past year's Naval Academy Summer Seminar, during which he directed 2,250 high school students.
On the track, his credentials are equally impressive. Two weekends ago in West Point, Van Orden successfully defended his Patriot League crown in the weight throw with a season-best toss of 63'2.25" (19.26 meters). It was his second-straight conference weight throw title and his fourth overall after claiming the league's top spot in the hammer throw in each of the last two springs.
Van Orden followed up his championship performance with another first-place weight throw finish in this past weekend's Star Meet, his seventh victory in eight competitions this season. To date, he is the only Patriot Leaguer to eclipse 60' and ranks second among the Mid-Atlantic's weight throwers, behind only Temple's Bryce Buffaloe at 64'3" (19.58 meters).
This Saturday, Van Orden will set his sights upon improving his fourth-place 2009 All-East finish and notching an NCAA provisional qualifier (19.50 meters) at the 2010 IC4A Indoor Track Championships, held at the Boston University Track and Field Pavilion in Boston.
The Patriot League annually selects a league scholar-athlete of the year for each individual sport the league sponsors. Nominees for this accolade must be a varsity letterwinner who is at least a sophomore academically with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or above. At the end of the academic year, an overall Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year is determined from a ballot consisting of that year's individual sport award winners.
## Go Navy! ##
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