New recruit contributing in early season

In late June, instead of preparing for the upcoming cross country season, freshman Stephen Haas ran in the World Junior Trials for track. Because of that, Haas had a late start entering the cross country season. Going into his season, he was about four or five weeks behind his teammates.\nSo far this cross country season, the highest Haas has placed on the team was seventh last Saturday at Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute. But, coach Robert Chapman said he thinks Haas will help the team tremendously in the second half of the season.\n"The key will be getting him to be mentally confident as he continues to build fitness," Chapman said. "Stephen will have a huge role in the next five weeks."\nThe most important meets for the team still lie in the future. In November, the team travels to Purdue twice for the Big Ten Championships and the Great Lakes District and Terre Haute for the NCAA Championships.\nChapman said that so far this season the team has taken the meets relatively lightly. He has put little pressure on Haas to contribute so far, but said Haas puts a tremendous amount of pressure on himself.\n"Stephen is his own harshest critic," Chapman said.\nHaas came to IU from North Carolina and helped form one of the best recruiting classes in the nation. Joined by twins John and Sean Jefferson from Florida and Eric Redman from Indianapolis, the team has been dominated by youth. \n"It was great when those guys committed to IU," junior Bart Phariss said. "They are great guys to train and race with."\nThe Jeffersons and Redman finished as the team's top three runners at Pre-Nationals last Saturday. Haas said he hopes to be with these runners by the end of the season.\nHaas came with a high school career as impressive as almost anyone in the nation. He was a Foot Locker Finalist in cross country as a junior in high school and a Nike Indoor All-American in track as a senior. He finished second in the state meet for cross country as a junior and champion as a senior. As a senior in track, he was state champion in the mile and two mile. Chapman said Haas has potential to be a star harrier.\n"He's going to have a great career at IU and he'll leave as one of the all-time greats," Chapman said. "It's my job to have the vision for what he can accomplish and keep him focused on that"