After an appendectomy forced Jason Bialka to redshirt his freshman season of cross country, the fifth-year senior has used the extra time to his advantage, gaining maturity and improving his performance.

After winning the Ohio Valley Conference championship race last season and finishing fifth in the NCAA Midwest Regional to qualify for the NCAA championship race, bitter cold plagued the NCAA race with a wind chill below zero. Bialka crossed the finish line as the 229th runner, near hypothermia.

But this season, Bialka is ready to prove himself one last time, already claiming Eastern’s course record with a time of 24:39:39 at the Eastern Illinois Open Sept. 21. But after getting out to a solid start in the Pre-Meet race in Greenville, S.C., last weekend, Bialka sprained his ankle midway through the race, unable to finish.

“I took two things from that race. I was running really well with the top guys in the country and I was over halfway through the race right where I wanted to be. Also, I’m going to be more fresh going into this race because I didn’t run the whole race last weekend,” Bialka said.

With the Ohio Valley Conference championships Saturday at Eastern Kentucky, Bialka is relying on the strength of his ankle to defend his OVC crown and successfully race in his final three meets of his collegiate career.

“It’s still not 100 percent, so it’ll be a little but of a concern, but when it comes to race time, the pain just goes away,” Bialka said. “I have three races left and I hope to make the most of them.”

With less than four weeks of competition left, head coach John McInerney looks back on Bialka’s freshman year as a blessing.

“I’ve never been so thankful for an appendectomy,” McInerney said. “I never would have redshirted him. It was a nice stroke of luck.

“It’s killing me trying not to think about the seniors every year, but I know the conference coaches are thrilled to see Jason leave,” he said.

Heading into the three most important races of the year, it will be Bialka’s maturity as an athlete that will help him achieve his goal of All-American status.

“He’s learned a lot as a fourth-year junior about conserving energy,” McInerney said. “He’s learned individually about wanting to be fresh at the end of the year. He ran a great regional race and he’s more mature now. He wants to make sure he’s at his prime come NCAA time.”