Tiger
runner poised to have breakout season
Story and photo by
Emily Schmidt, posted Oct. 19, 2007
Waking
up at 6 a.m. is not something most college students want to
do. But for MU cross country runner Emily Baker, it has become
a way of life. Baker and her teammates have been rising early
for the past three months in preparation for the upcoming
season, and the hard work has already started to pay off.
“I love competing,”
Baker said. “I’m happy that I found a sport I
am so passionate about. The hardest part is being consistent.”
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Emily Baker, center, a sophomore from Wildwood, Mo., is playing an integral role in the success of the MU Women's Cross Country Track Team. |
The 2007 MU women’s
cross country team expects to have a great season and has
already gotten off to a quick start. Baker, a sophomore from
Wildwood, Mo., has been one of the reasons for that. Four
weeks ago she notched her 5K personal best time of 18 minutes,
38.61 seconds at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic and followed
that with last weekend’s performance at the Bradley
Classic, where she posted her new 6K personal best of 21 minutes,
47 seconds.
“She
ran 80 some seconds faster than last year,” said Rebecca
Wilmes, the women’s cross country team head coach. “That’s
like taking off a quarter mile. That’s a huge deal;
most people barely take off 10 or 20 seconds.”
As of the week
of Oct. 15, Missouri has moved up in the two rankings for
both men and women. The women are now ranked eighth and the
men are now sixth. The results of the Bradley Classic helped
the Tigers immensely. Overall, 17 personal records were set
in a single weekend for both the men’s and women’s
teams.
Baker, a top recruit
for the Tigers, exemplified talent during her first season
with MU. Running in four races throughout her freshman year,
Baker steadily improved her times in both the 5K and 6K races.
In the 2006 season,
Baker finished 18th at the Bradley Classic on Oct. 13 with
a time of 23:10 in the 6K. She finished the Big 12 Championship
meet in 79th place and finished 100 of 171 at the Midwest
Regional in Minnesota on Nov. 11, 2006.
“Last year,
my season started off slowly,” Baker said. “Every
meet I got more and more used to it and kept improving myself
and my times.”
With only one year
of college experience, Baker is a relatively fresh runner
at MU. Yet, despite being an underclassman, Baker has been
one of the Tigers’ top finishers in every race this
season.
Baker was a three-time
all-state performer in cross country at Lafayette High School
in Wildwood, Mo. She finished seventh at the Missouri state
meet her senior year.
“For her
coming from high school, she was pretty low mileage,”
Wilmes said. “It takes distance runners some time to
develop some of that strength when you are stepping up to
our level. But I think she is a lot stronger and a lot more
fit; each race she is getting more confident.”
Baker prefers intervals
and tempo runs on the track over long runs. On average, Baker
runs about 45 to 50 miles per week. Other runners on the team
run as few as 35 or as many as 70, depending on their personal
preferences.
“My favorite
course is the Roy Graik course,” Baker said. “It’s
a challenging course, but I’ve always loved a challenge.”
The Roy Griak Classic
was hosted by University of Minnesota on Sept. 29. Because
it was a conference meet, it is a 6K as opposed to the regular
5K. Last year, MU’s team won several events in a large
part due to Baker’s contributions.
Just as Baker
anticipated, the Roy Griak meet was a solid one for the women.
The team finished 10th place overall. Baker finished 96th
with a time of 23 minutes, 40 seconds.
Baker’s goals
for the rest of the season include becoming a point scorer
in the upcoming meets. She would like to be one of MU’s
top five runners each meet. Down the road, Baker would like
to become a front-runner. She would like to keep improving
her times, also.
“Right now
she’s figuring it out and I’ve watched a lot of
kids develop and we are just going to take her along in the
right direction, you know challenge her with additional miles
but not break her,” Wilmes said. “It’s fun
to have a sophomore that’s stepping up there in our
top five; hopefully she will keep it up.”
Baker believes
the hardest part of being a cross country runner is being
consistent meet after meet. Her love for competing motivates
her need for success.
MU has
two-a-day practices to enrich the running experience. Baker
believes it to be beneficial. The longer runs in the morning
are supplemented by track workouts in the afternoon. These
track workouts consist of stretches, strides, hurdles and
a few laps. Baker says the team is looking good and each meet
the girls keep improving.
