Bakewell’s Winding Road To 800 Meter Glory

Karen Bakewell’s Road to 800-Meter Glory wasn’t a straight shot. 

It had multiple twists and turns, not to mention a detour from Oxford, Ohio, back to Jamestown, New York, when she withdrew from Miami University in Ohio to attend a hometown community college after disagreements flared with a new coach the RedHawks hired. 

“You’re going to do his workouts, because he said so,” Bakewell told The Cincinnati Enquirer back in 1986. “That’s just how it is. I was used to doing my own pace. 

“I guess I needed an attitude adjustment. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to say so far away from my home – and I wasn’t sure I wanted to dedicate myself to track.” 

Bakewell returned to campus rejuvenated and prepared to face all adversity head-on. 

As it turns out, head coach Richard Ceronie – the same coach Bakewell butted heads with as a sophomore – had a new challenge for her. Ceronie wanted to turn Bakewell, the 1984 Mid-American Conference outdoor champion at 400 meters, into an 800-meter specialist. 

“We talked about it over the winter and I was excited, because it is a new race for me,” Bakewell said. “I’ve always done the 200, 400 and relays before.” 

Bakewell made her two-lap debut at the Domino’s Pizza Relays, hosted by Florida State in late March. After finishing a close second to Alabama’s Evelyn Adiru, who competed for Uganda at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, it was off to the 800-meter races for Bakewell.

“I thought she would run maybe a 2:09, which is a good time,” Ceronie said after the meet. “But she ran a 2:06.9, which is comparable to the best times being run in the country … Then I realized how really good she could be.”

Bakewell lowered her PR to 2:04.18 in early May and turned her attention to that year’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships that were being held in Indianapolis. For her to be crowned NCAA champion, Bakewell would probably need to run another massive PR. 

You know what happened next. 

Bakewell pushed the tempo from the start, using her 400-meter speed to make the rest of the competitors uncomfortable. By the time she accelerated with 300 meters to go, no one else had enough endurance to go with her as she crossed the finish line in a collegiate- and meet-record-setting time of 2:00.85.

To this day, Bakewell is one of just 15 women who have gone sub-2:01.00 in collegiate history outdoors. Twelve of those women did so at the NCAA Championships; Bakewell was the first.