The only other time Robert Peddlar had ever seen snow was on television, and his warmest coat was his blazer.

But as the Jamaican native sat in class last winter, Peddlar, a sophomore on the Michigan men's track and field team, saw something new out the window.

“I was so amazed," Peddlar said of the snow. "I remember the first time I was out of class, just to be in it and touch it and feel what it was like."

Assistant coach David Kaiser said when Peddlar showed up in Ann Arbor a few weeks before his first semester, it was comical how underdressed he was.

Kaiser laughed as he described a 50-degree outdoor practice during Peddlar's first year. Through chattering teeth while shivering, Peddlar voiced his disbelief that practice wasn’t indoors. He was grossly unprepared for the winter in front of him.

“We gave him a pair of gloves and a cap, but as far as a true winter coat, he didn’t even have one,” Kaiser said. “Winters in Jamaica are like our summers here, so when temperatures got below 50, he was pretty uncomfortable.”

Junior captain Frank Shotwell said teammates rallied around Peddlar and that he never doubted his teammate's ability to adapt.

“Seeing him all bundled up is the funniest thing,” Shotwell said. “He was wearing long sleeves and sweats in August when we were out in spandex. But I knew he was going to make it. He’s a tough kid."

Peddlar weathered his way through injuries last season and has improved this year. A week after he finished a close second in the 60-meter hurdles at the Eastern Michigan Invitational, he won both the long jump and the high jump against Ohio State in "The Dual" on January 17.

Peddlar said he has adjusted very well since August 2007 and doesn’t get bothered by the weather anymore. He said he chose Michigan for its outstanding academics, and he hopes to apply to the Ross School of Business.

But Michigan might never have been on Peddlar's radar if not for his high school coach at Wolmer’s Boys School, former Wolverine runner Neil Gardner. He considered Gardner's words to be gospel, and when making his college decision, it was Gardner's advice he listened to most.

“If a track career was the only thing I wanted, Michigan wasn’t the place for me,” Peddlar said of Gardner's advice. “But if I wanted to be well off in life, I should come to this institution because it not only builds you academically, but also athletically and in other areas.

“When he told me this was a good place, I believed him.”