Each decade, it seems, there is a new high school freshman phenom.
Sarah Baxter may be tiny, but sheis making a huge impression uponAmerica's distance running scene.
File photo by Kirby Lee
In the 1970s, it was Mary Decker (Orange, Calif.). Kim Gallagher (Maple Glen, Pa.) was the big name in the 1980s. Erin Davis (Sarasota Spring, N.Y.) was the hot newcomer in the 1990s and most recently the four-year standout was Jordan Hasay (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
The newest wunderkind could well be Sarah Baxter of
Simi Valley (Calif.) in Southern California — all 5-foot-2, 85-pounds of her.
Baxter burst upon the high school scene by winning the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational cross country individual sweepstakes in a time that bettered the all-time freshman mark set by none other than her hero, Hasay, four years earlier. She followed that up this spring by winning the prestigious Arcadia Invitational 3,200-meter in 10-minutes, 14.11-seconds, which at the time was the fastest time in the nation this year.
Although he had heard about the 15-year-old from youth meets starting when she was 10, Baxter still surprised coach Roger Evans, who after more than 20 years of guiding athletes like Anna Sperry and Liberty Miller, isn't easily impressed.
"She has an internal motor that you can't teach. If I could (teach it), I'd have 60 kids like that," Evans said. "She's a hard-nosed competitor and she is never intimidated. That surprised me. Sometimes you get athletes who have been successful in youth track but running against girls three to four years older, they have trouble adjusting. The high school atmosphere is so much more intense."
Evans discovered just how focused Baxter was when he attempted to explain to her the competitive toughness of events like Mt. SAC.
"I tried to prepare her a little bit, letting her know that a third- or fourth-place finish wouldn't be an embarrassment," he recalls. "She looked right at me and said, ‘I don't plan to lose.' I asked her, ‘You mean this race?' She said, ‘No, never.'"
Not that Baxter thinks she'll win every race she enters for the rest of her life. She hasn't thought that far ahead because another one of her strengths is following Evans' advice to the letter. So much so, she never questions Evans' training methods or race strategy. Call it complete trust. And one of those strategies is never to look too far ahead.
This week, for example, she started her preparation for the CIF-Southern Section Division I and Masters meet championships by narrowing her focus to just the 3,200 after leading all qualifiers in both the 1,600 (4:53.23) and 3,200 (10:31.77).
"I like the longer runs," said Baxter, who turned 15 in December. "I'm more of a distance runner than a middle distance runner and the 3,200 is just more fun. There's a little more strategy in the 3,200 and twice as many things can happen.
"Yes, winning at Mt. SAC and Arcadia gave me a boost. It helped me realize I can run with the others. Dropping the 1,600, I can get used to running the 3,200 faster because that's what I'll have to do at state," she says.
Ask her if the time 10:07.56 means anything and you discover her goal this season.
"That's Jordan's national freshman record," responds Baxter. "That's my goal, to get close to what she ran. She's my hero because she was an amazing runner. She always won and she was running for fun."
But as much as she respects the current University of Oregon sophomore, she would like nothing better than to have a chance to get that record, especially if it were come in the state championships June 4 in Clovis.
"Early on I have the kids list their goals, both now and in the future," said Evans. "She listed winning league, CIF and state. I asked her if those were her career goals and she said, ‘This year!' You want your athletes to dream big but there is a lot of competition. Just winning the Southern Section is hard enough.
"Sarah is very savvy, she knows what to do and how to do it. She knows when to go and when to shut it down."
Baxter doesn't have just one strategy.
Evans was pleased that she fared extremely well in her first major test at Mt. SAC but also knew hills were her strength and on the second of three hills, she left the competition far behind.
However, the California state championship course is mostly flat, playing into the hands of runners like the San Diego duo of
Molly Grabill of Rancho Bernardo and speedy
Alli Billmeyer of Torrey Pines High.
"I told Sarah to push the second mile," said Evans, and that's just what Baxter did. Neither of her closest rivals believed she could do that and finish well enough to win. They were wrong.
Baxter also knows herself. State cross country champions are just expected to run in the Foot Locker Western Regionals, which happen to be back at Mt. SAC, and then advance to the Nationals the following week in San Diego.
Instead, Baxter called it a season.
"I had a minor foot problem and I was pretty tired," she said. "I wanted some rest, I'd felt good about what had happened and I didn't want to burn out. I listened to my body and I'm glad I did."
It allowed her to get fully healed and rested for the track season.
At the Arcadia Invitational, Baxter was right with the 3,200 meter pack until the sixth of eight fast laps when she increased the pace. That's the time most runners try to relax and build into their kick. Again, they miscalculated Baxter's strength as she won impressively.
There are other times when she just takes it out and after getting a nice lead, settles into an uncatchable pace.
Call it the element of surprise because sometimes she isn't sure how the race will play out, she just knows that when it feels right, she'll make a move and run away for the win. In big races, she doesn't even look at the clock.
Baxter does acknowledge that all of the attention she is getting, especially from her peers, is sometimes embarrassing.
"I'm shy, so when others I don't even know walk up to me and congratulate me, I don't know what to say," she admits.
That's not to say she doesn't make time to have a little fun off the track. She was a member of the school's "Sixth Man" cheering section for basketball and she has friends on the track team in other than the distance events.
But on the track she's the one in command. All 85 pounds of her. So, will the freshman become the next Decker or Hasay?
Stay tuned.
