Photo by David Kiefer
SAN FRANCISCO – Thomas Ratcliffe became the fourth in Stanford history to be named Pac-12 Men's Freshman Athlete of the Year in cross country.
Ratcliffe, making his collegiate debut, was the top freshman at the Pac-12 Championships on Friday, placing eighth in Tucson, Arizona, while running as Stanford's No. 3 in a team runner-up finish. In his only previous race this season, Ratcliffe won the Stanford Invitational while running unattached on Oct. 1.
A soccer player in the fall at Concord-Carlisle (Mass.) Regional High, Ratcliffe did not run cross country at all in high school. However, he excelled on the track, running a 4:01.50 mile to set a New England high school record.
The most recent Stanford Freshman of the Year was Miles Unterreiner in 2009 when the conference was the Pac-10. Unterreiner went on to become a Rhodes Scholar. Previous Stanford winners were Neil Davis in 2002 and Donald Sage in 2000.
The Pac-12 also announced its all-conference teams. The top seven placers in each of the men's and women's divisions earned first-team honors, and those eighth through 14th made the second team. Stanford had seven all-conference runners – four men and three women. Here is a list of Cardinal honorees:
Men
First team
Grant Fisher, so.
Sean McGorty, sr.
Second team
Thomas Ratcliffe, fr.
Garrett Sweatt, 5th sr.
Women
Second team
Christina Aragon, fr.
Vanessa Fraser, RS jr.
Fiona O'Keeffe, fr.
This is the second first-team honor for McGorty and third overall. Fisher earns his first first-team honor and Sweatt, a fifth-year senior, receives all-conference honors for the first time. This is the second All-Pac-12 honor for Fraser.
Thomas Ratcliffe is named Pac-12 Men's Freshman of the Year in cross country. Photo by David Kiefer.