"My goal was to not be mediocre," he said. "No more slacking off in practice, no more just getting by. I set really lofty goals, some would call unrealistic."

The new mind-set and work ethic ushered in a productive junior season in 2008. Perry was third in the nation at 3,000 meters at the NCAA indoor championships and achieved an important personal goal when he ran a sub-four-minute mile with a 3:59 in a meet at the University of Washington.

That set the stage for his just-completed senior season. For starters, he finished 10th at the NCAA cross-country championships last fall. During the winter he was part of a BYU medley relay team that set school and conference records and finished fifth at the NCAA indoor championships. And then came the steeplechase final last week, when Perry, running in only the seventh competitive steeplechase of his life, lowered his pre-meet best from 8:40 to 8:29 and won the NCAA final by six full seconds.

When he announced his goal to run under 8:30 in the finals, many scoffed.

"I understood. It seemed unrealistic," said Perry. "But when your mind is stronger than your body, your body can do amazing things."

The mop talk, he said, hasn't gone completely away. Just a few weeks ago he was negotiating a deal to buy some camera gear on Craigslist and the seller recognized his name. "You're not the infamous Kyle Perry?" the man asked, and then agreed to the deal, "Only if you don't bring your mop."

But that was before Kyle Perry added "National Champion" to his name and realized his goal of getting national attention for something he did instead of something he didn't do.

Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com