California University of Pennsylvania Athletics

After a fencing, track and cross country career at California University of Pennsylvania, she moved on and finished the 1985 New York City Marathon in under three and a half hours. She then began competing in biathlons- run/bike/run races- an triathlons- swim/bike/run races. Now, Sue Van Orden hopes the next step in her athletic career will hopefully take her to Hawaii to compete in the world famous Ironman Triathlon.

“My goal is to get to Hawaii for the Ironman, but I have to get there first. You have to qualify in order to make it. My first qualifying race will be in May in Memphis. After Memphis is Indiana, but as soon as you qualify at one of the races, you quit. I am going to try 120 percent to qualify in Memphis,” said Van Orden, a member of the third class of Cal’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Van Orden came to California after she graduated in 1977 from West Milford Township High School in New Jersey. In high school, she participated on the girl’s fencing and track teams from 1973-1977 and the boy’s cross country squad from 1974-1976. She was named the MVP on her fencing team and captain of the track team in high school.

“When I was in high school, I lived in the sticks where there wasn’t a lot to do, so I always got involved in sports,” Van Orden said. “I didn’t really like basketball. That is how I got into fencing. Also, my sister was in it before. She was older than me, so that’s how I was exposed to the sport as a kid.”

Van Orden chose to come to California because it was one of a few schools that had a women’s fencing team. Some other local schools that had a team were Indiana University of Pennsylvania, West Virginia University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.

As a matter of fact, there weren’t many schools of Cal’s size that had fencing teams. However, even though the team was fencing against larger schools, it made it to the national championships during Van Orden’s sophomore year. Also, she won the CMU Invitational twice during her three years.

“It was a small team. We had a men’s and a women’s team, and there were about 20 people between the two. There are the three weapons (epee, foil, and saber), and we would run into a bind on the men’s team because you needed three people for each weapon,” Van Orden said.

“When I was in college, women just used the foil. Now they use all three. The differences between the three are the weapon itself and where you can score a point or how you can score a point. With a foil, it is the torso. With an epee, it is anywhere on the body. With the saber, it is above the waist,” Van orden explained.

As a junior at Cal, Van Orden was the fencing team’s MVP. She also served as the team’s captain and was given the President’s Cup.

Fencing wasn’t the only sport that Van Orden participated in at Cal. She also ran for the cross country and track teams, two teams which she also served as captain. When Van Orden left Cal, she held three track records: 12:14 in the two-mile, 18:07 in the three-mile and 18:46 in the 5,000-meter. In 1980, she placed sixth at the Eastern Association Intercollegiate cross country meet and advanced to the NAIA national championships.

“I liked the diversity of the sports that I participated in. I liked that fencing was in between cross country and track. I can’t say that I liked one more than the other. I enjoyed all of my teammates coaches and just had fun season to season,” Van Orden said.

Van Orden never graduated from California. She left after her junior year because she suffered from weakness and numbness in her left leg and have to have back surgery. Even though she never received a degree from the university, she does have fond memories of her time here.

“One thing I remember is the dreaded workouts on the cross country course. I don’t really remember a race or anything. I remember everyone struggling and being together. Then I remember a lot too about the road trips with the fencing team. I really remember mostly the times with the teams. That is what teamwork is all about,” she said.

After Van Orden left California, she went on to receive a physical therapy degree in 1984 from the University of Medicine and Dentistry/Kean College of New Jersey. She continued her education and graduated in 1996 from the University of Colorado-Denver with a master’s degree in business and health administration.

Van Orden’s competitive athletic career didn’t end when her days at Cal did. She continued to fence, and in 1988 she qualified for the United States Fencing Association National Championships. Then she changed her concentration from fencing and running to competing in biathlons and triathlons, in which she was a consistent age group winner in various races.

On finishing the New York City Marathon in 1985, Van Orden said, “I actually think some of the longer triathlons are harder than a marathon. Running it was a lot of fun. That was my only one, and I had a good time. I was sore the next day, but it wasn’t like I was crippled.”

Now, Van Orden is mainly focusing on triathlons as she shoots for the Ironman. She believes that the hardest aspect of the sport is changing from the bike to the run because it uses a totally different muscle group. She says that her best attribute in the triathlon is that she gets faster as the race goes on. She switched to competing in triathlons to overcome boredom.

“You get bored with just running. Plus as you get older, the swimming helps a lot for women to have upper body strength. I was getting tired of running and wanted something new with the health benefits. That is the reason I moved to Colorado. I was living in Philadelphia at the time and I wanted to have a healthier life-style and more freedom and space,” Van Orden said.

“After my triathlon career, I want to do a big Himalayan Mountain or South American mountain climbing expedition. That will probably be my next athletic adventure after the Ironman,” she continued.

Van Orden never though she would be inducted into Cal’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She said that she wasn’t a good runner in high school or a great fencer. However, she said that if you put your mind to anything, you can get it.

“It wasn’t until I good direction and committed myself as well that I achieved higher goals. I probably don’t have athletic genes in me, but think if people really focus and commit themselves and are willing to work, they can achieve almost anything,” Van Orden said.

Of the Hall of Fame, she said, “I fell very honored. It made me think of the different times in my life, my days at California and the miles and miles of running. It made me feel really good, honored, and it made me think back and about how life goes on. I know that I didn’t get a degree there, but it really contributed to a lot of different parts of my life.”

Sue Van Orden was a multi-sport star at California in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Van Orden lettered and excelled in fencing, cross country and track and field. In the fall of 1979, Van Orden won the Prestigious Cal U Cross Country Invitational which consisted of nearly 200 participants. When she finished her stellar career, Van Orden held three school track and field records, including: the two-mile run (12:14), three-mile run (18:07), and 5,000-meter run (18:46). In 1980, Van Orden placed sixth out of 210 runners at the Eastern Association Intercollegiate Cross Country Meet and advanced to the NAIA national championships. Her cross country and track and field coaches were Marty Uher and Phil Coleman,
Van Orden was also an exceptional fencer for veteran head coach Donna Johnson. As a junior she was selected as Cal's Most Valuable Player and one of many fencing highlights included winning the CMU Invitational twice. She also earned team MVP and captain honors for track and cross country.

Van Orden is originally from Stockholm, New Jersey, and a graduate of West Milford Township High School. Since her Cal days, Van Orden is currently employed with Kasier Permanente as a Regional Call Center Supervisor and resides in Thornton, Colorado with her husband, William Sickles.