LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The best thing to happen to Vanessa Fraser wasn't winning races, but losing them. Now, she's a six-time All-American and getting better every year.
In third grade – a truly transformative year – Fraser made two big decisions. She decided she wanted to go to Stanford, and she began running. Now, in her fifth and final season at Stanford, Fraser is the wily veteran of a team ranked No. 4 going into the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Louisville's E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.
Fraser can thank a teacher, Kathleen Nester, who co-founded Girls on the Run of Silicon Valley. The students train for a 5K and learn goal-setting and the importance of creating a healthy lifestyle.
With every lap around the blacktop and small grass field at tiny Lakeside Elementary School, it was no wonder Fraser earned her first significant running honor: the One More Lap Please award.
Fraser also realized she didn't like to lose. In middle school cross country, teammate Madison Black beat her almost every time, and it still frustrates Fraser. "Even though she was on my team, I always wanted to beat her," she said. "I just wasn't as strong as she was."
At Scotts Valley High, a 40-mile drive from Stanford, Fraser again met her match. Fraser's Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League is small and remote, yet dominant in girls' cross country. The league has produced six state team champions and five individual winners in the past 18 years.
The competition was so tough that in 2011, Fraser won the first of two state Division IV titles, but still finished third in league. That was the price of competing against San Lorenzo Valley's Anna Maxwell and Aptos's Nikki Hiltz, now All-Americans at Washington and Arkansas, respectively.
"That can be really frustrating, but it makes you better," Fraser said. "I was really lucky to be there at that era. We all played off each other and made each other better.
"My high school coach, Doug Chase, always told me that I'm in it for the long run and really preached patience and being conservative in training. I like to think I could have run faster times if I had been pushed even harder, but I'm glad that I didn't because that set me up really well for college, especially for this program, which has a similar mindset."
Stanford was in her blood and Fraser was determined to go there. Her father, Jeff Fraser '82 is an alum and as a young child, Vanessa went to football games to see a relative, future pro Pete Swanson, play for the Cardinal. She once went to a Stanford track meet and had athletes autograph her T-shirt. She still has it.
Arriving as walk-on, Fraser experienced doubt knowing that she had nowhere near the fitness it would take to run like some of her veteran teammates, such as Aisling Cuffe or Jessica Tonn. But Fraser said Chris Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field, never gave up on her.
"It took a lot of convincing from Coach Milt that I could be really good if I really buy into this," said Fraser, who has exceled for the system put in place by Miltenberg and women's coach Elizabeth DeBole.
"The process works because she really believes it will work," DeBole said. "She believes in herself and believes in the training. She puts her head down and does her thing. She's not worried about what anybody else is doing."
For evidence, look at her times in the 5,000 meters each spring at Stanford's Payton Jordan Invitational: 16:22.64 as a freshman, 15:54.12 as a sophomore, 15:41.64 as a junior, and 15:25.83 as a senior while redshirting.
Fraser, who graduated in June with a degree in symbolic systems and now is a graduate student in management science and engineering, cut it to 15:25.48 in June while placing an impressive seventh at the U.S. Championships. Though she competed unattached, the time was the second-fastest by a collegian all season.
"It was a good time to focus on myself and really become confident in my abilities," she said. "I think about turning points and building blocks in my career, and this spring was huge, not just the times that I ran, but being able to compete with some of the best in the world.
"That's a huge confidence builder. It keeps me remembering that the possibilities are almost limitless in my mind. I remember leaving USAs thinking, I need to bring this feeling and confidence and belief in myself to cross country. I think that's helped me and will help me this week too."
Fraser has been joined by sophomore Fiona O'Keeffe as Stanford's low-sticks this season and the rest of the team has improved greatly. The Cardinal is peaking.
"We need to go in there with a confidence and belief in ourselves and then put the blinders on and focus," Fraser said. "Nobody feels like they have to hit it out of the ballpark. We just need to have a really solid day across the board. I have complete faith that we can run with any team in America."