Fifth, that is what Charlie Ortmans ranks all-time in VA for 5000m. The names in front of him, Alan Webb, Ahmed Bile, Sean McGorty, and Drew Hunter. That should tell you everything you need to know about his 14:40 clocking this weekend at MileStat.
For years the MileStat meet has been billed as one of the fastest courses in the nation but it took until this year for everything to align: weather, firmness of the ground, and great competition. That recipe lead to the show we saw on Saturday.
In the boys race you have five guys break 15:00, 42 guys break 16, and six teams average 16:09 or faster!
The star of the show though was Charlie Ortmans. He entered the race with a big target on his back, thanks in part to us saying he could challenge Drew Hunter's 14:20 record, but did not give an inch. He led from the start and never faltered. He opened in 4:30 for the mile and followed it up with a 5:07 second mile. that means he ran the last 1.1 mile in 5:03 which is just insane considering it is widely considered to be the toughest portion of the course.
Ortmans was very pleased with his time, though he admittedly wouldn't have minded it being a second quicker.
Though Ortmans' time makes it seem like a runaway, it wasn't at all. Second place was Pierre Attiogbe in 14:45, third place was Berkley Nance in 14:51, fourth place was Quinn Parrish in 14:54, and fifth place was Conner Rutherford in 14:59.
Blacksburg took home the team title scoring 138 and Glen Allen was second with 142.