Over the past two years, while concentrating on her recruiting, Lincoln-Way Central senior Callie Barker pulled double duty by competing for the swimming and cross country teams.
There was a time that she wished she could do both in college but it didn’t appear in the cards.
“I originally wanted to go to college for swimming — it was my main sport since I was 7 years old,” Barker said. “I started running in the sixth grade.
“But I met with the swimming coach at Millikin who said I had a good running and swimming background and should try triathlons.”
Last summer, Barker embarked on her first effort in a triathlon.
“I was like, ‘Wait, this is actually kind of fun,’’’ she said.
She went on to do a few more, and that sport solved her decision on what to do in college for athletics. Barker signed a national letter of intent for Indianapolis to join the triathlon team.
Usatriathlon.org lists only 41 NCAA colleges offering the sport, so landing a spot on a team isn’t easy. Indianapolis’ program started in 2024, finishing 20th in the nation and eighth among Division II schools. This year, the Greyhounds were sixth in Division II.
Indianapolis coach Doug Robinson is looking to go even higher.
“He has some great goals for the team that I really like,” Barker said of Robinson. “He wants us on the podium at nationals, and I feel like I will be a great fit there.”
Barker also seems like a great fit for the sport. She hasn’t qualified for state in cross country or swimming, but the combination of her talents in the two sports makes her a natural in triathlons.
Running and swimming the past two fall seasons helped improve her stock.
“This was a unique opportunity for a unique person,” Lincoln-Way Central cross country coach Ryan Stapinski said of Barker. “We figured we would give it a try and see how it worked. It worked out really well.
“I think it actually helped Callie stay healthy. She had some injuries during the track season when she was just running. At the same time, it was helping her in swimming as well. It was a win-win.”
College distances are usually a 750-meter swim, roughly 12.4 miles of biking and a 3.1-mile run. This fall, Indianapolis competed in three regular-season events before regionals and nationals.
It’s going to take discipline to balance training and school work, but Stapinski doesn’t see that as a problem for Barker.
“Callie is so disciplined — she’s one of the hardest-working athletes I have coached,” he said. “She will do a morning swim before school or an afternoon run. She lifts on her own. She’s also disciplined in getting the proper amount of sleep.
“It’s incredible. It all works because of who Callie is.”
There’s still one area Barker needs work on, and that’s the cycling portion.
“It’s a lot of work,” she said. “But my coaches say it’s an easy sport to get better at. I’ve improved with it, but I haven’t had the time to bike. It’s hard to bike in the cold and snow.”
But that problem could be solved as she’s looking into obtaining an indoor bike trainer, which connects a regular bike to a stationary bike and would allow her to use her own bike to train.
Barker has tried other sports in her career, including tennis and cheerleading, but running and swimming won out.
“I love swimming because I can challenge myself,” she said. “I love to challenge myself and push myself to my limits and swimming is a great sport to do it.
“It’s the same with running. I can challenge myself to be my best.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
