Starting college as a freshman presents numerous challenges, but starting college as a freshman athlete presents various other difficulties.

The shift from high school to the university scene can be one of the most drastic changes people go through in their lifetime. For sophomore runner Andrew Daedler, acclimating from high school to collegiate athletics was a daunting and difficult task in his first year at Biola.

Not part of the original plan

Daedler, who was a part of two school records this past weekend at the NAIA Indoor Track Championships, grew up aspiring to be an athlete throughout his high school and college years, but not actually as a runner.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know what cross-country and track were till high school. Growing up, I played baseball,” Daedler said.

A big part of his life, baseball was suddenly taken out of the picture during middle school.

“In junior high, I fractured my growth plate in my arm, so I wasn’t able to play anymore,”  Daedler said.

Disappointed by the prospects of not competing, the former pitcher gained a newfound love for an activity that is usually punishment during practices for other sports: running.

“My plans were originally to go back to baseball, but I ended up loving [cross-country]. I loved the atmosphere of the team and watching your hard work pay off in result,” he said.

First year a struggle

As a biological science major, Daedler found his freshman year at Biola a bit overwhelming.

“Freshman year was a really tough transition for me,” he said.

Among many of the things freshmen find themselves working through their first year of college, Daedler also struggled to put together results in his races.

“Running-wise, I didn’t do very well,”  he said.

Improvement kicks in sophomore year

This year, though, everything has started to click for the star sophomore.

Using words like “refocused” and “improved training,” Daedler believes his improvement from last year is a continuing process.

At indoor nationals he took part in the men’s distance medley relay, which broke the school record by a second. They failed to make the finals, but considering the team finished dead last and 14 seconds slower in the semis a year ago, Daedler expressed his happiness with their improvement.

Daedler also ran as an individual in the 1000-meter and broke another school record, but the race itself was no easy task.

“The thousand was my third race, and I was really sore and tired. But I knew I could get through the three laps,” he said.

His race plan was simple: Stay right on whoever took the early lead and hold with them until the all-out sprint at the end.

“I ended up missing the finals by 0.2 seconds, which also meant that I missed the All-American mark by 0.2 seconds. That was tough,” Daedler said.

In the end though, the sophomore found solace in breaking the school record by a second and a half. Not only that, but Daedler wrapped up Nationals running an event three seconds faster than what he had qualified with.

Still room to grow

The end of Nationals came with comfort for Daedler, despite the fact that he came away not having raced in the finals: The season is only half over. The end of the indoor marks the beginning of the outdoor season.

“Basically, it’s like dividing a super long track season into two smaller portions. You have the indoor season, which is the beginning of January until end of February, and then you have the outdoor season, which is March to June,” Daedler said.

Daedler said that he and his team will be looking to improve and hit their peak around mid-May, just in time to head into the outdoor championships.