Three years ago, Garrett Baker-Slama was playing high school soccer and cross-country was just an afterthought.
Today Baker-Slama is running varsity cross-country for ASU as a redshirt freshman. If this shift in sports seems sudden, it is — even in Baker-Slama's eyes.
“If you would have told me two years ago that I would be running varsity cross-country for Arizona State University, I would have told you that you were crazy,” he said.
Baker-Slama started competing in cross-country and track as a senior in high school at Tempe Corona Del Sol, and saw instant results. He finished 2nd in the 3200m state race as a senior and earned 2009 All-East Valley cross-country selection.
Convincing him to actually race was much harder than his ability to be successful in cross-country.
“A high school buddy of mine was always asking me to come out and run,” Baker-Slama said. “He played soccer with me and ran cross country as well. He thought I was in fairly good shape so he wanted me to try it. He could never convince me, but finally he got me to run this race and I ended up placing second out of all the guys in my high school, right behind my buddy.
“Ever since then I figured I had to run cross country and track.”
It’s a good break for the Sun Devils. Baker-Slama has gotten off to an impressive start, finishing 10th at his first ever meet, the George Kyte Invitational. His potential is off the charts and his teammates are excited to be able to help with his growth. Team captain and fifth-year senior Daniel Lovell is already a fan of him.
“It's pretty awesome,” Lovell said. “He's come along very well and he's going to be very, very good. I'm just happy to help him along and help with grow up and mature. I'm excited to see what happens to him.”
For a while, however Baker-Slama flew under the radar. Men’s coach Louie Quintana didn't recruit him out of high school, and Baker-Slama was planning on attending ASU without a spot on the team.
“I didn't originally recruit him,” Quintana said. “I heard about him after the state meet in cross-country and I talked to his high school teammate Josh Walker and he told me Garrett was pretty good and he gave me the lowdown on him. At that point I reached out to his coach at Corona and he was like, 'I really recommend you take him, he's in the Barrett Honors College, so he's just going to ASU.' That was nice.”
Ever since then, Baker-Slama has been working hard on his long distance running, and it's rubbing off on coach Quintana.
“He's got great discipline, great focus, just works on the daily grind and works hard,” Quintana said. “It’s hard to wake every single morning. He's very technical in the way he operates. He has a great drive, which he got from his soccer days.”
Quintana likes the way Baker-Slama's career is heading, and is excited about him being a varsity athlete.
“He's steady as a rock,” Quintana said. “He's someone I can feel confident and comfortable being in our Top 7.”
Baker-Slama and the rest of the Sun Devil men's cross-country team will race again Sept. 16 in Tucson, before heading off to Minnesota for the Roy Griak Invitational Sept. 24.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
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