Baker, Helms Represent Cross-Country Teams at NCAAs

Harvard men's cross-country captain junior Ed Baker and women's cross-country team runner senior Bethany Helms finished out their successful seasons at the NCAA Championships at the University of Indiana yesterday.

Baker managed to finish ahead of 100 other runners in the race, but ended up in 148th place for the 10,000-meter men's race with a time of 32:40.40.

Helms, meanwhile, placed 212th in the pool of 250 for the 5,000-meter women's race, finishing in a time of 18:53.70.

The University of Arkansas and Brigham Young University took the men's and women's team titles, respectively.

The meet caps off successful seasons for both Baker and Helms, who were not expected even to qualify for the NCAA Championship.

Two weeks ago, at the NCAA Regionals, Baker placed ninth with the impressive time of 30:21 in his first 10,000-meter race of the season. All of Baker's previous races were in 8,000-meter competition.

Making his performance all the more impressive, is the fact that baker was coming off of an injury entering Regionals. Baker had a disappointing performance at Heptagonals two weeks prior to Regionals due to a calf injury.

Baker had success earlier in the season as well, placing thirteenth out of 290 runners at the New England Championships on October 15th.

Helms also starred at the NCAA Regionals, placing ninth overall in the race with a time of 17:34. And at Heps Helms impressed with a fifth place finish. At New Englands, she placed eleventh in a field of 250 runners.

Both runners experienced wonderful seasons for Harvard, exceeding all of their pre-season expectations.

And despite not having their best performance at the NCAA Championships, the fact that Baker and Helms qualified makes their years a success.