Like so many runners before him, Andy Baker arrived from England without ever having seen the Butler campus or met the coach. Baker was ambitious, though.
"I wanted to prove I'm a better runner than what it looks like I am," said Baker, who is in only his fourth year of serious running.
He made his U.S. cross country debut Sept. 28 at the Notre Dame Invitational. He finished 97th.
What that proved to coach Matt Roe was that something was wrong. Roe was right. Baker was diagnosed with iron deficiency, a condition that improved with supplements and change of diet.
"Now, he's just like a freight train," Roe said.
Baker won the Horizon League race by more than a minute. He finished third in last week's Great Lakes Regional, one of the toughest of nine regionals nationwide. That qualified him for the NCAA Championships, set for Monday at Terre Haute.
Notre Dame's Patrick Smyth was first on Bloomington's 10,000-meter course in 30 minutes, 22.44 seconds. Big Ten champion Matt Withrow, Wisconsin, finished second in 30:38.42. Baker followed about two seconds later.
Baker said he wasn't familiar with the names, and that might have been advantageous.
"They didn't really mean anything to me," he said.
Now it is Baker making a name for himself. Butler has a legacy of top finishers in NCAA cross country -- Victoria Mitchell was fourth in 2005, Mark Tucker fourth in 2002, Fraser Thompson 14th in 2000 and Julius Mwangi third in 1998.
Baker, 22, is a transfer from Loughborough College, where two-time Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe and former Butler runner Becky Lyne attended. Butler's pipeline from the United Kingdom was built by former coach Joe Franklin, who left for New Mexico.
Baker conceded there was initial concern but that the transition has been easy. Roe wants to intensify recruiting in the Midwest but said Butler would continue to seek foreign athletes. Baker, in particular, has become valuable as a teammate.
"To have somebody like that who's an international athlete, who's a little bit older, really provides a great dynamic and structure for our program," Roe said.
Butler did not qualify its men's or women's teams for the NCAAs, but it has another British representative in senior Genni Gardner, 23, who was ninth in the women's regional race.
No. 19 Notre Dame and No. 28 Indiana made the men's field as at-large teams. Also advancing were two Hoosiers from Stanford, Nef Araia (Lawrence North) and Katie Harrington (Carmel). Araia, the 2006 NCAA runner-up, was sixth in the West Regional. Harrington, the No. 5 runner for Stanford's top-ranked women, was 14th in the regional.
Sports of all sorts
Gymnastics: Pittsboro gymnast Bridget Sloan, an alternate on the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the World Championships, has been selected to compete in a pre-Olympics test event later this month at Beijing. . . . Samantha Peszek, McCordsville, is narrator for an online episode of "USA Gymnastics: Behind the Team." A video behind-the-scenes look at a visit by Peszek and her U.S. teammates to New York City can be accessed at usa-gymnastics.org or attblueroom.com/teamusa.
Running: IU has constructed a tribute to cross country and track greats at Running Legends Park, a collection of limestone slabs on IU's cross country course. . . . Cindy Harris, 38, Indianapolis, won the women's division of a race to the top of Chicago's Sears Tower for the sixth straight year Sunday. She ran 103 flights of stairs -- 2,109 steps -- in 15 minutes, 1 second. . . . Desiree Davila won a special women's 10,000-meter track race in 33:20.7 Saturday at IUPUI. Erin Nehus of the Indiana Invaders was seventh in 34:14.1.
Trampoline and tumbling: A Fortville 11-year-old, Tristan Van Natta, won a silver medal in women's double-mini trampoline in the age-group world championships at Quebec City, Quebec.
"I wanted to prove I'm a better runner than what it looks like I am," said Baker, who is in only his fourth year of serious running.
He made his U.S. cross country debut Sept. 28 at the Notre Dame Invitational. He finished 97th.
What that proved to coach Matt Roe was that something was wrong. Roe was right. Baker was diagnosed with iron deficiency, a condition that improved with supplements and change of diet.
"Now, he's just like a freight train," Roe said.
Baker won the Horizon League race by more than a minute. He finished third in last week's Great Lakes Regional, one of the toughest of nine regionals nationwide. That qualified him for the NCAA Championships, set for Monday at Terre Haute.
Notre Dame's Patrick Smyth was first on Bloomington's 10,000-meter course in 30 minutes, 22.44 seconds. Big Ten champion Matt Withrow, Wisconsin, finished second in 30:38.42. Baker followed about two seconds later.
Baker said he wasn't familiar with the names, and that might have been advantageous.
"They didn't really mean anything to me," he said.
Now it is Baker making a name for himself. Butler has a legacy of top finishers in NCAA cross country -- Victoria Mitchell was fourth in 2005, Mark Tucker fourth in 2002, Fraser Thompson 14th in 2000 and Julius Mwangi third in 1998.
Baker, 22, is a transfer from Loughborough College, where two-time Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe and former Butler runner Becky Lyne attended. Butler's pipeline from the United Kingdom was built by former coach Joe Franklin, who left for New Mexico.
Baker conceded there was initial concern but that the transition has been easy. Roe wants to intensify recruiting in the Midwest but said Butler would continue to seek foreign athletes. Baker, in particular, has become valuable as a teammate.
"To have somebody like that who's an international athlete, who's a little bit older, really provides a great dynamic and structure for our program," Roe said.
Butler did not qualify its men's or women's teams for the NCAAs, but it has another British representative in senior Genni Gardner, 23, who was ninth in the women's regional race.
No. 19 Notre Dame and No. 28 Indiana made the men's field as at-large teams. Also advancing were two Hoosiers from Stanford, Nef Araia (Lawrence North) and Katie Harrington (Carmel). Araia, the 2006 NCAA runner-up, was sixth in the West Regional. Harrington, the No. 5 runner for Stanford's top-ranked women, was 14th in the regional.
Sports of all sorts
Gymnastics: Pittsboro gymnast Bridget Sloan, an alternate on the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the World Championships, has been selected to compete in a pre-Olympics test event later this month at Beijing. . . . Samantha Peszek, McCordsville, is narrator for an online episode of "USA Gymnastics: Behind the Team." A video behind-the-scenes look at a visit by Peszek and her U.S. teammates to New York City can be accessed at usa-gymnastics.org or attblueroom.com/teamusa.
Running: IU has constructed a tribute to cross country and track greats at Running Legends Park, a collection of limestone slabs on IU's cross country course. . . . Cindy Harris, 38, Indianapolis, won the women's division of a race to the top of Chicago's Sears Tower for the sixth straight year Sunday. She ran 103 flights of stairs -- 2,109 steps -- in 15 minutes, 1 second. . . . Desiree Davila won a special women's 10,000-meter track race in 33:20.7 Saturday at IUPUI. Erin Nehus of the Indiana Invaders was seventh in 34:14.1.
Trampoline and tumbling: A Fortville 11-year-old, Tristan Van Natta, won a silver medal in women's double-mini trampoline in the age-group world championships at Quebec City, Quebec.
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