2023 MSU Male Athlete of the Year Baldwin Ready for Season After Team USA Selection

Heath Baldwin was a sophomore at Hackett Catholic Prep in Kalamazoo when he began competing in track and field events. That year, he qualified for state events, allowing him to compete against Michigan's best.

Flash forward nearly seven years, and Baldwin is competing against elite athletes on an international level. Baldwin, a Michigan State graduate student pursuing a masters in marketing research, is gaining recognition as an emerging talent in the decathlon.

This summer, he traveled to Marburg, Germany to compete against athletes from the United States and Germany. Baldwin's accomplishments, particularly on the national stage, earned him the right to be named MSU Athletic's 2023 George Alderton Male Athlete of the Year.

Baldwin has emerged as a premier decathlete, especially adept at jumping events like the high jump, long jump and hurdles, Baldwin has expanded himself far beyond his origins from central Michigan to competing overseas. There's still room to grow in a career that's only just beginning.

Baldwin's talent on the track was apparent early on in his athletic life. The star said he first realized the skill he had as early as his second year in high school.

"The first year I started, I think that was my sophomore year of high school, I just started and then I made states, which was an impressive thing for your first year doing track," Baldwin said. "People aren't making states in their first year. And then it just started going from there year after year, just getting better. That's when I started to take it a little more serious."

In high school, Baldwin was under the guidance of coach Simon Cholometes, who he identifies as one of the most important mentors of his track and field career.

"He was the guy that got me into track and field my sophomore year and kind of took me under [his] wing," Baldwin said. "[He's] definitely one of the best overall coaches I've ever had."

He started college at the University of Michigan, where his collegiate career got off to a less than ideal start. His first year in Ann Arbor was impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19, giving Baldwin a unique challenge as his athletic career was just getting off the ground.

"It was definitely weird getting sent home right before I was about to compete in my first outdoor season. I feel like I was ready to do something good for freshman year," he said.

Baldwin managed to continue training while he was back in Kalamazoo, allowing him to pick up right where he left off when he returned to Ann Arbor.

"I definitely had a good situation though, back home. I was training there all during COVID," he said. "I never really stopped training. It was definitely different socially, but track-wise I don't think it was very different."

Baldwin ended up transferring to MSU after his sophomore year at Michigan. He said a number of factors influenced the decision, including a coaching change and a pursuit of an information science major that wasn't available at Michigan. A desire to stay in-state led to him picking MSU specifically."

"I didn't really want to leave the state of Michigan," Baldwin said. "[I] still wanted to represent the state of Michigan and I had a good opportunity to do that with coach Creekmur."

Baldwin's talent was noticed by his coaches as soon as he began, much as it was in high school.

"He had the personality of what a really good decathlete looks like," said former MSU jumps and multis coach Ceith Creekmur. "Not only is he one of the best kids in the team and in the jumps group, he's also one of the hardest working kids."

The hard work seems to have paid off. After placing sixth in the decathlon in July's USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Baldwin automatically qualified to compete in the Thorpe Cup in Marburg, an annual track and field competition between the United States and Germany. Baldwin said the event was unlike any he had experienced before.

"It was a great experience. Definitely the best crowd I've ever had, which was kind of random, considering I've competed at some big meets," he said. "The Europeans definitely take it a lot differently."

Baldwin's hard work in combination with his experience in Germany has been a motivating force among other members of the team.

Coaching an athlete like Baldwin who competes internationally is "awesome. It's a lot of fun," said Creekmur. "When you have kids like that, they're amplifiers in the group and they make the whole group better. It sets the example to the others that if you want what Heath has or can do, then this is the path to it."

Baldwin didn't let the intensity of the occasion change his mindset for the event.

"I wasn't really intimidated, I feel like I had a chance to win that meet and I think I was one of the best people there, so I felt pretty confident going into it," he said.

Baldwin has every reason to feel that way. In a field of 13 athletes in the decathlon, he finished in sixth place, including first-place finishes in the javelin and high jump events, as well as a second-place finish in shot put. As good as he was, Baldwin's accomplishments are even more impressive considering that he was dealing with an ankle sprain on his dominant left leg all while he was competing. It's likely Baldwin could have done even better had he avoided the injury."

The injury was "serious enough where we couldn't really do much on it leading up to the meet," said Creekmur. "We had to back off training so much that with the ankle injury continuing to get better, I feel like on the other end we lost a lot of time training.

Injured or not, his accomplishments in Germany showcased the reasons why he was named MSU's Male Athlete of the Year.

"It was nice to get some recognition from the Athletic Department just because I feel like track is definitely a smaller sport," Baldwin said. "[I'm] just trying to keep the momentum rolling. [I'm] definitely honored that they chose me."

From the local to the international level, Baldwin's competitions have only expanded in scope since he began his track and field career in Kalamazoo. As impressive as it's been, his achievements could become even bigger. Having already competed internationally, it's no stretch of the imagination to say that Baldwin could make a push for the Olympics once his time at MSU is up. He says that he hasn't made up his mind on that yet, but that he'll certainly be continuing his training after the year is over.

"[I'm] still trying to figure that out right now, I guess part of it depends on how this year goes. I got a couple invites to train at a couple different places that I'm thinking about right now," he said. "I'll definitely be pushing for that Olympic team this upcoming summer."

2023 MSU Male Athlete of the Year Baldwin Ready for Season After Team USA Selection

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