Athlete excels in track, cross-country

April 13, 2017

For The Tribune

Hunter Bauserman got involved in distance running in the spring of his eighth-grade season at St. John’s Sauer’s, and has ran a lot of miles ever since.

He has ran track and cross-country both for four years at Seymour High School.

This spring he has run in the 3,200 relay and in the open 3,200, and said he hopes to run the mile in some meets.

“My favorite race is the mile,” Bauserman said. “It doesn’t feel as long as the 3,200, but it doesn’t feel too short like the 800. I like that distance. It’s fast, but not too fast.”

He said he enjoys running third in the relay. At the first meet at Columbus East, Bauserman ran a 2:08 split.

Not thinking too far ahead pays off for Bauserman in the 2-mile.

“The 3,200 is fun, but sometimes you think ‘I finished the first mile but I have another mile to go,’ and that can be a little challenging,” Bauserman said. “Usually you have someone to run with in the 32 and you kind of stick with them and finish the race together.”

Bauserman was Seymour’s top finisher in the home meet against Jennings County and Bedford North Lawrence last week.

“It’s still kind of all mental and still just talk yourself thorough it,” Bauserman said. “My best time has been 10:27. I want to break 10 minutes there. I think I can get it.”

He said his favorite away track is Bloomington North, where the regional is held.

One of Bauserman’s fondest memories is helping the Owls winning the sectional last year, and advanced to the regional in the mile.

He said he had a good experience running track in eighth grade so he decided to run cross-country upon entering Seymour.

He was the Owls’ No. 3 runner last fall and had a career-best time of 16:59, on his favorite course, Brown County.

“I always wanted to get in the 16s,” Bausersman said. “Brown County is a flat course and it’s fun to run on.”

Bauserman broke down each of his races prior to taking to the courses.

“The first mile I tried to go out fairly fast, get up with the top group and kind of stay with them as long as I could, and just run my race like that,” Bauserman said. “I didn’t really pick someone out I wanted to beat, I just ran my race and hopefully ran a better race than they did, and ran smart and fast.

“The second mile is usually harder because you just ran that first one and usually your adrenaline is gone by then. It’s kind of mental, you’ve got to push through it and think ‘I’ve only got two more miles to go, and then I’m done.’ I tried to run my race and use my energy throughout the whole race. I didn’t sprint at the end but I still tried to finish as fast as I could and catch as many people as I could in the last mile.”

He said his highlight in cross-country was helping the Owls win the conference his junior year on the Seymour course.

He was in the Owls’ top-12 all four years and in their top-7 the last two years when the team advanced to the semistate.

Bauserman said it was important to work out during the summer to be in shape once the regular-season practices started.

“Practice is very important,” he said. “Your team pushes you in practice. I like being there and getting better. That kind of helps the team. Everyone needs to work hard to achieve what we need to get.”

He said you have to believe in your ability in anything you do.

“You have to know that you can do it,” Bauserman said. “If at any point in the race you think you can’t do it, then usually you’ll psyche yourself out and you’ll end up running not as fast as you want to. So the whole race you’ve got to think that you can run the race you want to, and you’ve got to believe that your teammates can do that too, and have faith in them.”

The senior has enjoyed being a student at Seymour.

“I’m glad I came to Seymour,” Bauserman said. “ The people here are a lot of fun, and I think it’s probably the best choice I made. There are a lot of people you can interact with or socialize with. The teachers are awesome, and the teachers helping you with school is pretty nice.”

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Bauserman file” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Name: Hunter Bauserman

School: Seymour High School

Parents: William and Clara Bauserman

Sibling: Kaylee, Tanner

Sports: softball 4 years, cross-country 4 years

Athletic awards: CC-2015 winning HHC, 2016 receiving leadership award, two-time regional, semi-state qualifier; track-2016 sectional champions.

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