XC standout Bailey Eaton to run for Embry-Riddle
Whitefish High School senior Bailey
Eaton is a standout snowboarder and skier on the slopes, a calculus
fanatic in the classroom, and was a vital link for a Lady Bulldog
cross-country team that won four consecutive state Class A
titles.
To call her well-rounded is an
understatement, but it’s her aptitude for running that has Eaton
packing her bags for the sunny beaches of Florida. Eaton recently
earned a full scholarship to run for the women’s cross-country team
at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, in Daytona Beach, Fla. She
joins the NAIA-ranked Eagles this fall.
It wasn’t always a goal of Eaton’s to
run in college, but when offered the chance to attend Embry-Riddle,
her dream school, and run, she jumped at the chance.
“I wasn’t that interested in running in
college,” she said, “but I was thinking that if I could get a
scholarship for running, it could help get me into the school I
wanted to go to.”
Eaton contacted Embry-Riddle
cross-country coach Mike Rosolino last fall and set up a week to
tour the school and run with the team during practice. She left for
the trip one week after she helped Whitefish wrap up another state
title.
“I did two workouts with them,” she
said. “It was really fun, and all of the girls were really nice. I
liked it down there.”
She stayed in contact with Rosolino and
in early January was offered the scholarship. She accepted the
following day.
While she’s looking forward to running
for the Eagles, it’s Embry-Riddle’s academics that have Eaton most
excited. She’s pined to attend the university since sixth grade
when she was in Whitefish Middle School teacher Tim McGunagle’s
class.
“He inspired me to want to be an
astronaut,” Eaton said, with a wide smile. “He told me about the
college, and ever since then, I had my goals set on Embry-Riddle. I
didn’t think it was possible I would actually go there, but then
one day I kind of realized I have what it takes and I should just
go for it.”
It’s that same drive and passion that
has propelled Eaton to her great achievements in running. She says
the two go hand-in-hand.
“Running is the most impacting thing
I’ve done in my life,” she said. “It’s taught me everything I know
about setting goals and working hard to reach those goals.”
There was no better display of Eaton’s
fortitude than her performance last year at the state Class A
cross-country race in Helena. After bonking and cramping up on the
home stretch, falling to her knees multiple times, Eaton literally
crawled across the finish line to give the team the overall win. It
will go down as one of the grittiest displays of determination ever
seen in Whitefish sports history.
“It gave me a realization that I could
get through a lot,” Eaton said. “I had a goal, and I knew what I
wanted to do, and I wasn’t going to give up. It gave me insight to
how much personal strength you can have if you dig deep down and
really have the passion.”
She credits her teammates, the “Fab
Five” as she calls them, for helping her have the will to keep
going.
“The support from everybody around me
at that moment was incredible,” she said. “The best part was my
teammates. I could see them yelling, and I was just trying to get
to them. They were the ones I had to work for. We were all together
at that time.”
On the slopes, Eaton is a one-woman
wrecking ball in local boarder-cross races, most recently taking
second place overall in the Nate Chute Hawaiian Classic. She’s been
on the snow since she was a little girl and says she “just loves
going fast.”
In Florida, however, without snow or
mountains, she’ll possibly pick up on some water sports or just
focus on running and studying.
She’s unsure if she’ll continue her
pursuit toward her sixth-grade dream of becoming an astronaut while
at Embry-Riddle but says, “It still might happen.”
And it could. Embry-Riddle is
nationally ranked as one of the top aeronautical schools and is the
world’s oldest and largest university specializing in aviation and
aerospace. Numerous graduates go on to work with the Air Force,
Navy, commercial airlines and, yes, become astronauts.
With Eaton’s drive and will power, no
one should put anything past her.