Despite fourth-place finish at Olympic trials, Bayer has memorable summer

On July 1, IU distance runner Andy Bayer closed in on qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team at the 1500-meter finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials at the University of Oregon.
After escaping ahead of the pack, Bayer raced down the rail toward Andrew Wheating and crossed the line in fourth place, just 0.56 seconds away from qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics.

“I think I could have been top three if I had positioned myself a little bit better, but that will come with time and learning,” Bayer said. “Coming out of the race in fourth, I wasn’t mad. I was really happy that I had competed that well against that field.”
Bayer came to IU as a non-scholarship athlete, but he said he believed then IU’s revamped program, led by IU Coach Ron Helmer, would help him mature into a better runner.

Since he was redshirted his freshman year, Bayer earned a scholarship, became a four-time Big Ten Champion, and won the NCAA Championship in the mile this summer.

As students started to leave Bloomington for the summer in May, Bayer was still in town preparing for the outdoor championship season in track. Earlier this year, he won the Big Ten Indoor Championships in the 3000-meter and 1500.

Bayer won the mile at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in May, setting him up for one of the biggest challenges of his summer: the NCAA championships in June.
In his attempt to earn a spot in the Olympic Trials, Bayer competed in a field that included three former NCAA Champions and the record-holder for the collegiate indoor mile.

The result was one of the closest finishes of the NCAA Championships as Bayer edged Miles Batty from BYU to become the champion in the mile, defeating Batty by one hundredth of a second at the finish line. His time of 3:39.95 was good for the Olympic Trial “B” time,which would send him to the trials if his time beat enough U.S. opponents.

“It was a very emotional and positive thing for him,” Helmer said. “We then started looking at the lists for the trials and all the sudden, his time wasn’t good enough to get him in. While he was emotionally empty, we came back the week after the NCAA meet and ran our own race to get him the time, and he did it.”

Bayer ran a mile in less than 3:39 in the NCAA Championships race, which automatically reserved him a spot in the Olympic Trials.

While Bayer did not run well enough at the trials to represent the U.S. in London this summer, he did get a chance to wear the USA uniform in Mexico at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association U-23 Championships.

In his only race at the NACAC, his last of the season, Bayer broke away from the field with a few laps remaining and won the 5000-meter by 15 seconds.

“The race itself probably wasn’t the most competitive I’ve ever been in, but it was fun to be with the rest of the U.S. team,” Bayer said. “Not many people get the honor of representing the country, so you definitely want to seize the opportunity, but overall, it was a really great experience.”