God made it obvious the moment I stepped on campus and met the team that Baylor would be my future home. So excited to spend the next four years running XC and track at Baylor and doing life with some incredible people!!! #SicEmBears
A photo posted by Anna West (@amwest713) on
Missouri state 3200m champion Anna West of Lafayette Wildwood announced her verbal commitment to Baylor University on Sunday night via instagram.
West owns personal records of 10:37.62 for 3200m and 4:51.24 for 1600m. She was undefeated in the 3200m this spring en route to her first state title and took runner-up honors at state in the 1600m. She recently set her 5k personal best of 17:48.5 in placing runner-up at the Forest Park Invitational this past weekend.
The senior said she considered Vanderbilt, Duke and William & Mary, but the decision was easy after visiting the Waco, Texas campus.
"I loved the team and the coach and everything about it!" she said.
West's brother, Jordan, was the No. 5 man on the Bears' cross country squad last year.
TWO WEST CHILDREN ON THE BAYLOR TRACK AND FIELD TEAM!!! DREAM COME TRUE @amwest713
-- Jordan West (@jordanwest28) September 13, 2015
"Jordan had a very similar experience that I did, which was falling in love with the school the first time he saw it," she said.
West's mother is a pastor in the St. Louis area and works with several Baylor alums. The faith-based community in Waco was a big deciding factor for West.
"The coach and team have such strong faiths and I knew that environment would be really difficult to find at a secular school," she said. "I'm so glad I'll have a team that I can share my faith with and walk along side others in their journey with Christ!"
The commitment is a big win for the Bears program, who are actively pursuing several of the top female distance runners in the nation. This past weekend, Destiny Collins, Paige Hofstad, Aaliyah Miller, Gabrielle Satterlee and Brittany Parker, among others, took an official visit to the Big 12 power.
sic'em bears pic.twitter.com/G2qdEncWk8
-- aaliyah mae (@aaliyahmiller28) September 12, 2015"I've been talking to those girls and it seems like they all had a blast on their visit," West said. "It would be incredible to be teammates with them, but I know they still have a few more visits to go on. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I really hope they choose to go to Baylor. We could have a really incredible freshman class and they all seem like amazing girls."
West will likely race several of her potential future teammates before the fall is over. After placing 10th at Nike Cross Regionals - Midwest last fall and just missing an individual bid to NXN, one of her main goals for 2015 is qualifying for a national cross country championship.
"A state title in XC is the ultimate goal, but I also have my eyes on nationals for Nike or Footlocker," she said. "I got 10th at Nike Midwest last year and am already ahead of where I was then, so I think it's very possible. Maybe I'll get to race against some of my future teammates at nationals, we'll have to see."
***
Johanna Gretschel can be reached at jojo@flosports.tv.
