Teacher back, ready to run

His student teaching is done, and the real cross country season is ready to begin. Senior Chad Andrews has always had the reputation among his teammates to be a clutch performer in the last and most important meets of the year.\nWith the fatigue of student teaching behind him, Andrews is set to build on this reputation. \nIn last weekend's Big Ten meet, Andrews paced the No. 11 IU men's cross country team to a third-place finish. The fifth-year senior was first for the Hoosiers and ninth overall. \n"Chad has an ability that I have seen in no other runner on this team, except for (sophomore) John Jefferson, to step up and really get the job done in the postseason," junior Tom Burns said. "Student teaching hurt him a little bit more than expected, but we all knew he would be there when we needed him."\nWith student teaching, Andrews struggled a bit during the early part of the season, not living up to his own expectations. \n"The first part of the season I was struggling a little bit," Andrews said. "I was not horrible, but I just was not where I should have been. Now with student teaching over, I think it will help a lot. I was on my feet all day long, and I was a little tired going to practice."\nWith his strong performance at Big Tens, Andrews not only boosted his own confidence but also his own team members. The addition of another front runner to senior Chris Powers and sophomore Sean Jefferson means less pressure and more confidence for the next guys.\n"With Chad running good, there are more guys up front, and (sophomore Eric) Redman, (sophomore Stephen) Haas and I really get a lot of confidence from that," Burns said. "With Chad running good, it really helps everyone on the team."\nIn his sophomore season, Andrews earned second-team, all-Big Ten honors, finishing in 11th place at the Big Ten Championship and placed 12th at the regional meet. During his junior season, Andrews placed 22nd at the Big Ten meet, and ran three of his top five 8k times that year. \nDuring his senior season, Andrews redshirted in order to train for the Chicago marathon. Andrews finished under two hours and thirty minutes. Burns believes that Andrews' success in the marathon will only help him with the longer distance in the next two meets. \n"Chad was under 2:30 for a marathon which just attests to the fact that he is a good distance runner," Burns said. \nFor the last two meets of the year, the Regional Championships and Nationals, the race distances are bumped up to 10k from eight. \nRedman said he thinks this can only help Andrews and the team as they make a push for Nationals.\n"I expected Chad to come through all along," Redman said. "Now with the 10k races coming up, he will be even better. With him on track, it just sets us up for what we need to do towards the end of the season."\n-- Contact staff writer Alex Witteveld at pawittev@indiana.edu.