Newport
He gets that a lot. Bailey graduates from Newport High in a few weeks having earned his peers’ regard as the friendliest person in his senior class as well as the person with the most school spirit. He’s gravitated toward running the last few years, having found the easy-going attitude that permeates the Tigers’ cross country and track teams much more to his liking than what he used to experience on a basketball court.
When Newport athletic director Jeff Miller received materials from Utah-based Down Under Sports advertising its athletic exchanges in Australia earlier in the school year, Miller immediately thought of Bailey. Now just a month from representing the United States in a pair of cross country races a long way from home, Bailey’s already anticipating the experience.
“I’m really nervous; I’ve never gone so far as Australia before, especially with people I don’t know,” Bailey said last week. “I think it’s a very good opportunity for me to explore myself and be more courageous and be more optimistic.
“It was a pretty easy decision to make. The amount of money was obviously one of the first things that came to mind. It was a big concern, but we somehow were able to fundraise by sending out letters to local businesses and family friends. We got help with donations for the trip, and a lot has been raised. I’ll be eternally grateful.”
Down Under Sports offers trips in seven sports. Andrew Bahara, a 2014 Newport graduate, took advantage of the program to compete in wrestling two summers ago, so Miller had a good idea of what would be involved.
He also didn’t hesitate in recommending Bailey, whom Miller coached in both cross country and track the past three years.
“He’s one of those kids that’s just always enthusiastic for practice, always works to the absolute best of his abilities,” Miller said. “He works hard and he wants to get better. He has a great attitude, is always a great teammate. He never has a bad word to say about anybody.”
Bailey won’t be hard to spot once he gets to Gold Coast, the eastern Australian city that hosts Down Under Sports’ various athletic competitions. If it isn’t the accent or the omnipresent headband he wears when running, Bailey will be easily distinguishable by his 6-foot-6 height. He’s often the tallest runner in the field.
For the longest time, that height brought the usual assumptions, and Bailey tried to fit in with them. In addition to competing on Newport’s basketball teams, he also spent three seasons playing AAU hoop for Pembroke Academy legend Matt Alosa and his father, Frank.
Tracey Bailey, Eric’s mother, credits Matt Alosa with instilling the work habits with which her son has found his athletic muse, even if it no longer involves a basketball.
“It was quite a commitment three times a week driving down to Pembroke and Epsom,” Tracey Bailey said. “He got a really good work ethic from the Alosas. That’s where he probably started pushing himself with the running, because Matt made them run all the time.”
Eric isn’t “super-duper competitive,” she noted, and the pressures that came with Newport’s very-good-at-the-time basketball program eventually wore on her son. Having experienced track at the middle school level and being reintroduced to running by joining a high school running group as a sophomore, Bailey made what has turned into a comfortable switch of sport pursuits.
“In track and field, I was a natural runner,” he said. “I was more confident in my abilities as a runner than as a basketball player, and I enjoyed it more. It’s like, ‘OK, I’ll definitely run for all my life; not just in high school, but later in life, too.’ ”
He also doesn’t tire of it.
“He got that running bug; he got that runner’s high and the endorphins going through his body,” Tracey Bailey noted. “He would run five miles and, when he was done, be totally jazzed up about it. The rest of us it’s, ‘Just give me some water and let me lay down.’ ”
Unlike track, high school cross country doesn’t require the making of a time standard in order to participate in a state championship, and that has helped Bailey’s running. He was Newport’s second-fastest competitor at the last two NHIAA Division III meets, producing a time of 21 minutes, 57.3 seconds over five kilometers on the slope-happy course of Manchester’s Derryfield Park in 2014. That seven-minute mile pace won’t win any state crowns, but it’s still a lot better than most humans can manage.
Miller and Newport track co-coach P.J. Lovely have Bailey running the longer distances — 1,600 and 3,200 meters — this spring, where the lanky senior’s mile splits are in the mid-six-minute range.
“It’s all just about working on your form, pacing yourself and trying to focus energy strictly into your form,” Bailey said. “When you’re running cross country, you’re more aware of where certain obstacles are. In track and field, you’re only running on the track, basically running in circles for however many laps. Cross country has more scenery, too.”
There will be plenty of that come June 25, when Bailey leaves for Australia. The itinerary calls for a 5K race five days into his trip and another 5.7K event three days after that. Bailey’s also planning a three-day stopover in Hawaii on the way home.
“I’m just doing a lot of training, using track to help me get ready for Australia,” said Bailey, who will join the men’s cross country team at Franklin Pierce University this fall. “I’ve also been running in my spare time on our cross country trails. Just training.”
Because he’s in it for the long run. Literally.
Bailey is continuing to seek help toward the roughly $6,000 cost of the trip through either online donation (www.downundersports.com/payment?160609) or by calling 435-753-4732. Visit www.downundersports.com for more information on the organization and its offerings.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.