Sims, a junior on the Texas women's track and field team, is without a doubt the Longhorns' best distance runner. Last week at the Texas Relays, she won the 1,500-meter and ran the anchor leg of the first-place distance medley relay team.

At last year's NCAA outdoor championship, Sims earned All-American honors, and according to Texas head coach Bev Kearney, Sims is poised to finish this season on a similar note.

"What else can you say about Erin Sims?" Kearney said. "She had a great Texas Relays, and she has really evolved into a great competitor. She not only will be a contender on the conference level, but on the national level, as well."

Kearney believes that Sims' achievements have come as a result of tireless effort on and off the track, as well as dedication to one of the most grueling events in track and field.

"She has always been one of the hardest workers on the team, and all her hard work is paying off in terms of performance. She wants to be the best she can be, and that shows in her workouts and competitions," Kearney said.

Like most of the women on the team, Sims grew up playing many sports, especially basketball. Sims' father ran the parks and recreation department in Pascagoula, where he helped put on a cross country race. It was this race that got Sims into running.

"I wanted to be around him, so I entered the race a couple of times, and I had some success. And that is when I really started to get interested in being a runner," Sims said.

That success was the first of many for Sims in her high school career. She was a two-time All-American in high school, where she won a total of eight state titles, including four consecutive 800-meter championships. Sims was also the first school-age girl in Mississippi history to break the five-minute mark in the 1,600-meter when she set a record at the state meet in 1999.

Success attracts success, as the Horns' run of national titles in 1999 was a key point in Sims choosing Texas over the hordes of schools that were trying to lure her.

"That kind of excellence was an incredible motive for me. It provides a great atmosphere," Sims said.

The academic benefits of the University were also very important to Sims, who graduated fifth in her high school class of 261 and plans to go to graduate school to study art restoration. Sims, however, is not strictly business, as the allure of Austin was also hard to turn down.

"I love live music, and I really enjoy many of the restaurants in town," Sims said.

Unlike the sprinters and the field athletes on the team, Sims competes year-round. In addition to running track, she has had success on the cross country team, as well. Sims, however, prefers track to the solitude of a cross country race.

"I love having the crowds there watching and the excitement that comes with that," Sims said.

After her time at Texas is finished, Sims wants to continue training. Her goal is to make it to the 2004 U.S. Olympic team in the 1500. A trip to Athens, Greece, would coincide nicely with her plans to tour Europe after she graduates, and if she continues to run at her current pace, she has a legitimate shot at reaching that goal.

Sims is off this week and will not race again until the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. A portion of the women's track and field team, however, will be in action this weekend at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station.

And they should be. As a runner and a college student, life goes by pretty fast sometimes. But times have been especially fast for this senior track star.

As a prep-star in Pascagoula, Miss., she was a two-time All-American, won eight state titles and set a state record when she became the first female Mississippian to break the 5-minute barrier in the 1,600-meter run.

As a cross-country and distance runner on the Texas track team, times only got faster when she received All-American honors and a team Most Valuable Player title her junior year.

Times were fast for Sims even when she was a young child running in Hershey's Track and Field Youth Program - a program her father used to influence children, including his daughter, to become more involved and increase athletic opportunities for girls.

"Since I was his daughter, he was like, 'Well you have to run it because if my daughter doesn't run, it probably won't look as good,'" Sims said. "I did a sprint event, and I actually wasn't that fast."

So she wasn't fast then. But after winning the 800 the next year, she and her father were hooked, and it's been a long, successful career ever since.

Her father's influence reaches far beyond the Hershey program and throughout the past four years, he has remained a constant in Sims' life. The elder Sims comes to nearly every meet, carrying with him support for his daughter and a camera.

"He really got me into sports," Sims said. "He's always coached me and been so supportive, and he's always taking pictures."

Sims said more than anything, her father was there to support her and still is to this day.

"He made me feel like all the sports were available to me, that it wasn't only a guy thing," she said. "He's been really supportive of women's athletics. He's about to retire, and I think once he does he will be here all the time."

With her dad watching from the stands with a camera in hand, Sims is about to complete a distinguished career both on and off the track. As a senior, she now has the chance to reflect on that career.

"I'm usually pretty hard on myself after a lot of races," Sims said. "But now that it's my senior year, looking back on it, I really am pretty happy with it."

Sims' tendency to be hard on herself is a testament to her drive and motivation, something that she attributes to her mother. Her drive and coachability has not gone unnoticed by coaches either.

"At this level, you not only have to have talent but a work ethic as well," women's assistant track and field and head cross country coach John Hayes said. "Erin will do all the small things it takes to get it done."

Her attitude manifests itself in all areas of her life, as her athletic success is only matched by her achievements in the classroom, earning her several academic awards and setting up a bright future.

As the days at Myers Stadium get warmer and her final season winds down, Sims stands at a crossroads between two different worlds - art and track.

Next year, after graduating with an art history degree this May, she will study art in Germany on a full grant.

She plans on earning her master's degree and doctorate in art conservation and sees herself working in an art museum, preferably back in the place she loves to call home - Austin.

"Austin is definitely one of the best cities in the world," Sims said, reflecting on the possibility of extending her stay in Texas. "I love it here. It will be really hard to leave."

It's not easy to transfer from a world where speed is everything to the timeless realms of art. But Sims' interests have always gone beyond athletics, and she plans on joining a track club in Germany to keep that interest alive.

So the past has been memorable, and the future is definitely full of possibilities. But there is one more thing that Sims would like to see happen before she leaves Austin.

"I want to go out with a bang for sure and just make it feel complete," Sims said. "I've definitely thought a lot about winning a national championship."

Her coaches say Sims' primary contribution to the Texas squad is the leadership skills she displays both on and off the track.

"She has been to nationals several times and knows what it takes to win here," Hayes said. "She doesn't get excited just about being there and has the experience to share with some of the younger runners."

Times have been fast, but they will need to be if Sims is to win a national title. But if running is an art form, Sims is an expert