Former Bellefontaine distance standout Nate Orndorf competed in the marathon competition at the 2020 Atlanta Olympic Trials on Saturday after qualifying earlier this year.
A 2012 BHS graduate, Orndorf finished with a time of 2:26.09 and was 114th out of 175 male runners and 565 overall runners. He finished with a mile split of 5:35.
The top three finishers will represent the United States in Tokyo for 2020 Olympic Games. Silver and Bronze medalist Galen Rupp won the men’s race in 2:09.20, while Aliphine Tuliamuk won the women’s race in 2:27.23.
“Competing in the Olympic Trials was an amazing experience I will never forget,” said Orndorf. “Experiences like this weekend remind me why we train so hard and make plenty of sacrifices to get there.
“Of course I couldn’t have done this alone. I am extremely blessed to still have support from the people back home in Bellefontaine that made me the runner I am today. That includes my coaches and teammates at Grand Valley State University and the friends I run with now in Akron.”
Orndorf moved his way up the pack of runners in the first 10 miles and closed in on a top-50 spot after the 20-mile mark. However, he dropped back in the last 12 miles and finished 114th.
“Simply competing in the Olympic Trials has been a dream and goal of mine since the beginning of my high school running days at BHS,” said Orndorf. “I qualified with a 2:18:54, just six seconds under the standard, which put me as the 251st-fastest qualifier.
Once the final entries for the race came out, I was seeded 233rd due to some injuries and runners not competing. I spent a good amount of time looking at the qualifier statistics and came up with the goal of being top 100 on a good day, and maybe even top 50 if everything aligned right.”
Orndorf is currently working toward his doctorate in Polymer Science at the University of Akron and is scheduled to graduate in 2022. He hopes to also qualify for the 2024 Olympic Trials.