Indiana signed on for two more years of the Crossroads Classic this week. It’s a move, coach Tom Crean said, that changes some non-conference scheduling.“We’re going to play a neutral game in Indianapolis.FORT WAYNE – Indiana’s Andy Bayer said he began the mile run at Friday’s Indiana Relays at a conservative pace.
He finished it with one of the best times this year in the world.
Bayer won the race in 3 minutes, 58.23 seconds. It was the third time the Leo graduate broke the 4-minute barrier while at IU.
“We just wanted to get a solid mark on the board to try to get on the list to make the indoor NCAA meet,” Bayer said in a phone interview Monday. “The auto is 3:57.9, so I was a little off of that, but I feel that the mark I had was probably good enough to make it into the indoor national meet.
“That was the main goal, to get a fast run in to try and qualify.”
At the time, the mark stood as the tops in the U.S. and the best in Division I, and is the third-fastest in the world this season.
As of Sunday, it ranks No. 8 in the world and third-best by an American.
“I was happy with the way it went,” Bayer said. “I don’t really look at the U.S. leading as much as I was happy to break four (minutes) again.”
“… I felt really good early on. I had a rabbit, a guy on our team kind of paced me, that was helpful. Once he stepped off, I was kind of by myself in the front and I was able to hang on pretty well.”
The event capped another big week for Bayer. Earlier, he was named the Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week for the seventh time (fourth time for indoor track).
“It’s always a big accomplishment when you win an award like that,” Bayer said. “The Big Ten, we’re a pretty strong conference. There’s a lot of really good athletes out there. Winning the Big Ten Athlete of the Week is always exciting.”
Bayer earned All-America honors with a second-place finish in the distance medley relay and a third-place finish in the 3,000 meters at the NCAA indoor championship last season.
“That’s always the main goal, the Big Ten meet and the NCAA meet,” Bayer said. “These early meets are important in that they qualify us for the NCAA meet. The NCAA meet is the cake we’re going after.”
