Oglethorpe University

Despite numerous schools in Indiana, where Mark grew up, recruiting him for track he decided to leave the cold Midwest and attend Oglethorpe in the southern city of Atlanta.  Oglethorpe was a different experience as Mark had attended, at that time, the largest high school in Indiana.  His high school’s graduating class was the size of Oglethorpe’s entire enrollment.  He chose Oglethorpe not only for its location, but also because it allowed him to participate in both track and soccer.  Mark enjoyed playing and team team atmosphere of soccer more, but he was much better at track.  He became highly recruited in Indiana and surrounding states after running one of the fastest 4x400 relay splits in the state at 47.7 seconds (fully automatic time).

Oglethorpe was one of the best decisions he has ever made.  The small school setting helped Mark throughout his time in college and the terrific education provided assisted him after in the professional world.  Mark lived on campus his freshman year; however, he lived off campus the rest of his time at OU.  A few short months after enrolling, Mark’s brother received a job offer with Delta and moved down to Atlanta.  Having family close, being able to explore Atlanta, and experience campus life at Oglethorpe lead to a great college experience.  One of Mark’s better memories of his time at Oglethorpe was the Petrel of Fire race.  He is still the only ever Petrel of Fire and as the course layout has changed with construction in the academic quad, he will be forever etched in Oglethorpe history as the only one to complete the original course.  He graduated with a double major in Economics and Business Administration and is still close friends with several of his fellow students he met during his time at Oglethorpe.

After graduating, Mark has stayed in the Atlanta area outside of a one-year hiatus in southern California.  Mark currently is a Director of Compliance for a Fortune 500 company with a large presence in the Atlanta area, Assurant.  He lives in Duluth with his wife, Ariel, and his daughter, Somnae.  Living close by allows Mark to continue to be active with Oglethorpe by easily attending events and activities.