When Illinois Class 2A state champion Nick Holmes arrived on campus last fall, high expectations surrounded the Peoria native.

Those close to the Iowa cross-country program hoped he would push top Iowa runner Jesse Luciano and help coach Larry Wieczorek bring his team back into Big Ten contention.

And in his first collegiate race, Holmes seemed to surpass those expectations when he won the Hawkeye Invitational in 18:33, good enough for fourth all-time at Iowa.

“Coach [Wieczorek] said we would be great together,” Holmes said. “He said, ‘You are going to make me famous some day.’ ”

Fame was put on hold, though. Within a week of his impressive début victory, he began experiencing shooting pains in his left leg.

After an MRI came up inconclusive, he attempted to return to competition.

“We were trying to do whatever we could,” he said. “Running in the pool. Cortisone shots. It was an up and down year.”

It was also a short year. The injury worsened.

Holmes was diagnosed with an inflamed Achilles tendon and iliotibial band syndrome. His season was over.

“It’s a time when an athlete is getting used to a new environment — classes, a new town. It’s hard when a freshman is healthy,” Wieczorek said. “With the addition of the injury, Nick went through a real tough time.”

According to Time-to-Run, an online running magazine, an iliotibial band syndrome is among the most common and nagging injuries a distance runner can get. It’s defined by pain and inflammation where the iliotibial muscle band rubs along the femur as it moves across the knee joint, making the act of running an excruciating one.

Holmes became frustrated by the lack of progress he was seeing during his sessions with trainers and physical therapists.

By April, he still hadn’t fully recovered and was still unable to run without pain after a few miles. Holmes returned home to be with his family for Easter, not expecting to feel any better when he returned to Iowa City.

But following Easter Mass, his parents requested the pastor pray over his injured leg. Surrounding the wounded Hawkeye, Holmes’ family and priest asked for divine intervention to put him back on the cross-country course.

When he returned to Iowa City that week, he said, he had his first pain-free run since the Hawkeye Invitational.

“It sounds strange, but the pain wasn’t there,” he said. “It was a miracle.”

Now healthy, the high expectations of 2008 haven’t gone away. Though he competed in a collegiate event his freshman season, he received a medical redshirt.

While it’s not certain if Holmes will begin the 2009 cross-country season as explosively as he did in 2008, he hopes to make this season last longer.

“I’ve learned when to take it easier — when to pack run,” he said. “That’s how you make it to nationals.”

Wieczorek never stopped hammering a mantra into Holmes’ head.

“I kept telling him what I used to tell [former Iowa runner] Micah VanDenand,” Wieczorek said. “That greatness delayed is not greatness denied.”