Veteran Brian Baker is entering his 22nd season as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Gardner-Webb University, continuing to provide a wealth of high-level knowledge and support for the student-athletes under his watch. Baker came to Gardner-Webb initially as the program’s head cross country coach and assistant track coach from 2001-2003.
Since 2004, Baker has coached a combined 85 conference champions on the men’s and women’s sides over two leagues – the Atlantic Sun and the Big South – and has done so while maintaining a high degree of academic success as well. A total of 15 student-athletes have earned USTCA/USTFCCCA Academic All-America honors since 2007.
Numerous individuals have advanced as NCAA Regional qualifiers during Baker’s tenure as well and more than 250 student-athletes have earned All-Conference honors – indoor and outdoor combined – since Baker took over the program.
In 2018-2019, the Runnin’ Bulldogs had three All-Conference performances at the Big South Conference Outdoor Championships, with Natasha Akbarizadeh claiming the women’s hammer throw title with a school-record mark of 63.92 meters, qualifying her for the NCAA Regionals. Petra Jakeljic placed second in the event at 56.58 meters and Diviana Forrest placed second in the women’s 400-meter run with a time of 54.73 seconds to set a new school record.
Akbarizadeh also earned the 2018-19 Big South Conference Women’s Field Athlete of the Year award.
In 2017-18, GWU had a pair of NCAA Regional qualifiers in Jordan Smith and Chase Thornhill. Smith, who was named the Outstanding Field Performer at both the Big South Indoor and Outdoor Championships, qualified in the men’s shout put with a school-record mark of 17.23 meters. Thornhill made the cut with a program-best time of 46.82 seconds in the men’s 400-meter run, earning him Big South Men’s Freshman of the Year honors.
An expert in the distance events, Baker was named 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year after directing Gardner-Webb to the men’s A-Sun Outdoor Championship that season in Clermont, Fla. The Runnin’ Bulldogs collected 19 All-Conference accolades and won seven individual conference titles that weekend in the Sunshine State, with thrower Cody MacArthur earning Most Outstanding Field Performer honors and hurdler Dobson Collins claiming Most Outstanding Freshman Performer.
Baker led the Gardner-Webb women’s squad to a second-place finish in 2006 as well, a balanced effort that saw eight women earn All-Conference honors and one – pole vault standout Kelly Bridges – win an individual league title. It tied the program record for highest finish on the women’s side, set in Gardner-Webb’s first season in the league (2003).
That season, Gardner-Webb finished third indoors on both sides in Johnson City, Tenn. It was part of a three-season swing for the GWU men that saw the team finish in the top-3 indoors from 2006-2008.
On the men’s side, Gardner-Webb has produced a pair of NCAA qualifiers during Baker’s tenure. Pole vaulter Elliott Haynie advanced to the NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships in 2008, finishing 10th in Fayetteville, Ark., with a height of 5.20 meters. Haynie was the first men’s student-athlete to qualify for nationals at any level since 2000.
Alex Young advanced to the national stage twice in 2014. The LaVergne, Tenn., standout earned All-America honors at the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships in the weight throw and finished 17th in the hammer throw at the NCAA Division I Outdoor National Championships later that season.
In 2015, Krista Chauvin became the first woman in program history to qualify for the NCAA Division I Outdoor National Championships, placing 19th overall in the hammer throw in Eugene, Oregon with a mark of 57.85 meters.
A product of the nation’s most storied Division I track program at the University of Arkansas, Baker is no stranger to success on the track or the cross-country course. He has an expansive knowledge base in the sport – based on coaching experience but also personal running experience at the highest levels of collegiate, professional and international track & field.
A 1994 graduate of Arkansas with a degree in Kinesiology, Baker was a key cog in the Razorbacks’ domination of NCAA Division I cross country and track in the early 90’s.
He ran on Arkansas teams that won national titles in 1990 (Indoor and Cross Country), 1991 (Indoor), 1992 (Cross Country), 1993 (Indoor, Outdoor, and Cross Country), 1994 (Indoor and Outdoor). Twice (1992-93 and 1993-94) the Razorbacks won the NCAA Division I triple crown, with national championships in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. In addition to team success, Baker won individual national titles in the Indoor Distance Medley Relay and the Outdoor 5,000-meter run as a senior (1994).
Baker was a two-time individual conference cross country champion and 5,000-meter run champion as well, winning one title each in the SWC and the SEC. Arkansas captured 12 total conference championships as a team during Baker’s career, including three SWC titles and nine SEC titles.
He was an alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team in the 5,000-meter run and finished ninth in the 3,000-meter run at the 1999 World Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Japan. In 1995, he placed 10th in the 5,000-meter run at the World University Games. Baker is also a former member of the U.S. World Cross Country Team (1996 and 1997) and finished third, receiving a bronze medal at the Pan American Games. In 2001, Baker competed in the Chiba Ekiden relays in Japan.
The Batesville (Ark.) High graduate was a three-time prep state champion in cross country and two-time outdoor state champion in the 1,600-meter run and 3,200-meter run.
In June of 2004, Baker was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame. Baker was also inducted into the Batesville Area Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.
