Maier sets the bar high for final MVC Indoor Track and Field Championship

Josh Maier has set the bar high for himself in his final trip to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, and given his past nine months of racing, who can blame him.

"My goals heading into the (MVC Indoor Championships) are ultimately to win both the 3K and the 5K," Maier said. "It's a pretty big goal, but seeing as how the cross country season and this past MVC outdoor meet played out, I think I'm pretty capable and I've got something to prove. It's going to be tough because we've got a good field in both the 3K and the 5K."

Maier has picked up this indoor season where he left off following the best cross country season of his collegiate career. Maier earned his first All-MVC first-team honor and became the 29th Saluki in program history to post back-to-back all-conference finishes after he took fourth at the 2017 MVC Cross Country Championship.

"This cross country season was by far the best I have had," Maier said. "Even though it wasn't quite the result I wanted, at the end of the day, it was still the best conference cross country race I've ever had."

The added confidence from his fourth place finish at the MVC meet showed at the NCAA Midwest Regional, as Maier maneuvered a crowded field of 190 runners to finish Iowa State's 10K course in 23rd place with a personal-best time of 29.41. In doing so, he became the first Saluki to earn All-Region since Brian Dixon in 2012.

"The regional meet was a big confidence booster because I wasn't expecting that," Maier said of earning his first All-Region honor. "All of that together made me realize I'm pretty capable of doing some big things."

Maier joined the upper echelon of MVC distance runners in earnest at the 2017 MVC Outdoor Championships. Going into the meet, Maier knew he had a good chance to get to the podium in at least one event, if not two. After all, he had battled his way to a third place finish in the 10K as a sophomore at the conference outdoor meet following a 12th place finish in the event as a freshmen.

"I wasn't sure if I was capable at the time to win," Maier said. "I just wanted to place top-3 in both events because I knew I could do that. I had a little bit of confidence after I took third in the 10k at the 2016 MVC Outdoors. I knew I could do it, I just had to put it all together."

The men's 10k was up first at Cessna Stadium in Wichita, Kansas, as Maier was set to run the 10k on Friday, May 12 and then race in the 5k on the meet's final day, Sunday, May 14. Since the 10K at the conference meet was his only attempt to try and get a regional mark, Maier knew he had to go for broke from the get-go.

"The plan all along was to try and qualify for the Regional meet in the 10K because I didn't have a good 10k mark," Maier said.

Maier established himself early as the pace-setter and expected others, like Drake's Reed Fischer, to follow. But it became quite clear that no one had expected Maier to break away from the pack as early as he did.

"400 meters in I looked back and I was like 'damn no one went with me," Maier said.

Maier led for nearly the entire race before a lethal, late kick by Fischer put the icing on a dominant season of distance running for the then-Drake senior. Fischer had won the 2017 MVC cross country title and swept the 3K and the 5K at the 2017 MVC indoor meet before his win in the 10K.

Though he had to settle for second in the 10K despite a then personal-best time of 30:19.50, Maier had every reason to look forward to Sunday's 5K. He reasoned that his legs, while obviously sore, could withstand another race, especially if it meant winning an elusive first MVC title.

"I knew my legs were feeling bad, but at the same time, I was ready for the 5K," Maier said. "I had been training all season and I took second in the 10K so I just wanted to get after the 5K. It was nice to have a day in-between because after running a 10K your legs are always trashed. So I got an ice bath in and tried to stay off my legs as much as possible."

After having come so close in the 10K only for it to slip away late, Maier knew he had one more chance to get to the winner's circle with the 5K. Fischer gave Maier another reason to remain optimistic for Sunday's 5K after he withdrew from the race to save his legs for the NCAA regional meet.

"I had come that close and I was one spot away," Maier said. "I like the 5K and I'm pretty confident in it, but at that time I also knew there was a lot of talent in the 5K field. I knew it was going to be tough but that everyone was as tired as I was so I just had to go out there and get it."

The race itself played out nearly opposite of the 10K- this time it was Maier who hung around and let the other runners set the pace and do all the work. With only a few laps to go, Maier began to feel an opportunity to gain separation with a kick of his own.

"Three or four laps to go, I was like 'I might have a pretty good kick here,'" Maier said. "I knew once that bell rang for the final lap I was gunning it, all out, no matter what."

Maier soared past Bradley's Patrick Campbell and Jake Hoffert with his kick and knew once they didn't respond to being passed that his first MVC title was there for the taking.

"I was in third place going into the bell lap and I took off and passed the two Bradley kids and they didn't respond to me passing them," Maier said. "So at that point, I gunned it because I knew I had a chance to win the thing."

Maier blistered the track on his final lap, as he ran a 60-second bell lap to seal his first career MVC title and earn SIU's first conference title in the 5K since 2011.

An exceptional student who holds a 3.93 grade point average as a computer science major, Maier is a three-time recipient of the MVC's Elite 17 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the finals site at each of the MVC's 17 team championships, The Alsip, Ill. native plans to return to SIU next year to earn his master's degree as well as use his final year of eligibility in cross country and outdoor track. Even after his collegiate career is over, Maier hopes to continue racing with the ultimate goal of one day running a marathon.

"I would like to," Maier said of continuing to race post-collegiately. "I definitely want to run a marathon after college."

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Maier sets the bar high for final MVC Indoor Track and Field Championship

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