Photos by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
EUGENE, Ore. – Sean McGorty's NCAA championship victory in the 5,000 meters on Thursday, in his final race in a Stanford singlet, was a memorable performance with many perspectives.
McGorty won in 13:54.81 and teammate Grant Fisher, the defending champion, was third in 13:55.04. The result gave Stanford 16 of its 28 points, which enabled the Cardinal to finish in a tie for eighth in the men's team scoring. It was Stanford's highest finish since 2011 and came with the Cardinal women leading after six of 21 events as they go into Saturday's finals on the track and field meet's final day.
Steven Fahy had given Stanford a huge lift by placing third in the 3,000 steeplechase, running a lifetime best 8:34.52 – the second-fastest time in school history – to tie Ian Dobson (2003) for Stanford's highest NCAA placer in that event.
And the meet concluded with Stanford placing eighth in the 4x400 relay in 3:05.50. Stanford never before had made an NCAA final in that event. But the quartet of Frank Kurtz, Julian Body, Gabriel Navarro, and Isaiah Brandt-Sims made some history.
McGorty dared to glance at the video board as he hit the homestretch, saw his lead and knew the race was his. How could it not be after coming so far?
"It was incredible," said Chris Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field. "It was one of those emotional moments … everything he's been through, everything he's worked through to get back to where he is."
The day in late summer 2012 that Miltenberg got the Stanford job, he phoned McGorty, a top recruit from Fairfax, Virginia. They had been living in the same northern Virginia area, with Miltenberg coaching at Georgetown and McGorty starring at Chantilly High. After getting situated in California, Miltenberg returned to Virginia to prepare for the move, and visited McGorty.
"I knew when I met him then that this is the guy we wanted to build around," Miltenberg said.
McGorty indeed came to Stanford and that was significant, because he helped give the new coach credibility in his new environment. McGorty believed in Miltenberg and the coach believed in McGorty. The rest of the distance program, and future recruits, grew from that initial premise and trust.
McGorty would earn 10 All-America honors, place second in two NCAA finals to Oregon's Edward Cheserek, and engineer the Cardinal cross country team to three top-three NCAA finishes.
But in the summer of 2016, when McGorty reached the Olympic trials 5,000 final, an Achilles injury began to surface. He did well the following fall, placing 24th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, but otherwise was out of racing, save for one 1,500, for the next year and a half.
At the time off Fisher's 5,000 victory at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships, McGorty was at home, watching on TV and preparing for surgery and unsure about his competitive future.
"I remember when they took him back for surgery, I was walking around and felt sick to my stomach," Miltenberg said. "I was so nervous. I thought, Man, I don't know if this guy will ever run at a high level again."
That fear proved unfounded, but only with patience and a plan. Though McGorty has been pain-free since, he had to rebuild his confidence as well as his fitness. His indoor season consisted of a couple of distance medley relays, but no individual events, and his outdoor season certainly has been strong, but without any defining moments that would stamp him as the one to beat in Eugene.
Even so, Miltenberg and Fisher knew what McGorty was capable of. McGorty was the one who needed convincing. It was a big step to make a bid for victory in the Pac-12 Championships 5,000, though he ultimately finished fourth. At the NCAA West Prelims, he also took the lead late and held it longer before finishing third in his heat in Sacramento. However, even in that race, McGorty said he raced that final lap "with a little bit of fear" because he was focused on the runners behind him.
But Miltenberg stressed in the runup to nationals that McGorty needed to trust himself. To have a chance to win, he would need to make a move (anywhere from four laps remaining to a single lap to go), and that move would have to be decisive. Rather than one big push to the lead, McGorty and Stanford runners are trained to accelerate each 100 meters to the finish.
That move for McGorty came with 700 to go, thinning the pack to five. On the final lap, Campbell's Amon Kemboi tried to pass on the backstretch, but McGorty fought him off. Then Fisher and Syracuse's Justyn Knight made a push. They closed a bit, but McGorty powered through, maintained the gap and held it to the finish. McGorty covered the final 800 in 1:58.97, and the last lap in 56.53.
The key to victory?
"My coach trusts me," McGorty said. "I trust myself."
Only a year before, there were doubts this would ever be possible. Instead, the final lap was the finished product of McGorty's physical and mental transformation. He said it was the first time all season that he ran the final lap without worrying who was behind him.
"I don't know if anybody else could make that journey," Miltenberg said. "It comes down to believing in yourself and he believed in himself. His innate belief in himself through the darkest of times when he wanted to run so badly and he was so far from it. His innate belief in himself never wavered.
"His mental fortitude is unbelievable."
Said McGorty, "I really couldn't be happier. That was the first time I've been able to do a victory lap around Hayward. That was pretty special."
Fisher was thrilled for his friend and training partner.
"He's been my biggest role model at Stanford," Fisher said. "I've seen first-hand everything he's dealt with. Sean embodies everything that I would hope our team becomes when I leave. He goes in with a positive attitude and uplifts his teammates. He's the best teammate I've ever had."
Fisher was familiar enough with McGorty to expect a move, but blamed himself for not being close enough to answer it properly. Still, Fisher was pleased with how he concluded his collegiate outdoor season (U.S. Championships are next), especially after turnaround in his approach after finishes of fifth at NCAA Cross Country and fourth at the NCAA Indoor 3,000.
Fisher said he looked at his NCAA Outdoor 5,000 title last year and lost a bit of ambition and sharpness.
"Last year, winning the title was one of the worst things that could have happened to me," Fisher said. "I think I came into this year thinking I had it figured out, and I certainly didn't. For a while, I thought things would be easy, just because they were clicking last year. I think that attitude really came back to haunt me."
Fisher credits an "honest conversation" with Miltenberg soon after the indoor season ended.
"It really made me think about what I was doing, why I was even on the team and why I was still running," Fisher said. "It really made me realize where my priorities were. If I wanted to continue running, I needed to have a little bit of a priority shift.
"A lot of times people just tell me everything's good because I've had success in the past. But I really appreciated that conversation because he was real with me, didn't sugarcoat it and I think that's exactly what I needed. I'm happy it happened. I'm in a better place now."
Fisher's performance may get lost in the narrative of McGorty's victory, but to come within inches of a 1-2 finish in a field that includes the likes of Knight and Northern Arizona's Andy Trouard, the NCAA indoor 3,000 champ, was impressive indeed.
"I told Grant, 'You are way better than a year ago. You may run better tonight and not win.'," Miltenberg said. "He's an infinitely better runner than he was a year ago. Tactically, he executed with a massive amount of composure and calm.
"These are two incredible guys. I don't think Grant could be happier for Sean. And that's what I told them tonight, 'You'll remember what you did individually for the rest of your life. But, more importantly, you'll know that you did this together. You set this thing in motion long ago by working together as a team. You did it together. Enjoy that.'"
In the steeplechase, Fahy was running fourth when runaway leader Edward Barraza, hooked his toe around the top of a final-lap barrier and did a face plant. Fahy was among three to pass. Though he tried to maintain contact with Minnesota's Obsa Ali over the final 400, Fahy was unable stay close, but never was in danger of slowing down. It closed a breakthrough year for Fahy, who earned his first All-America honors – first in cross country then by placing ninth in the NCAA Indoor 5,000.
"Here's a guy who's never been at this meet before," Miltenberg said . "As a team, we've got to continue to grow. We've got to act like we believe we belong here, and compete that way. And Steven Fahy ran with that level of assertiveness, taking charge of the situation. That speaks to how far he's come."
The same could be said for McGorty, NCAA champion.
* * *
Friday's Results
Third day of four
NCAA Championships
At Hayward Field
Finals winners and all Stanford competitors
Men
Final team scores – 1, Florida 52; 8, Stanford 28.
3,000 steeplechase – 1, Obsa Ali (Minnesota) 8:32.23; 3, Steven Fahy (Stanford) 8:34.52, PB,
5,000 – 1, Sean McGorty (Stanford) 13:54.81; 3, Grant Fisher (Stanford) 13:55.04.
4x400 relay – 1, USC 2:59.00; 8, Stanford (Frank Kurtz, Julian Body, Gabriel Navarro, Isaiah Brandt-Sims) 3:05.50.
Women
Team scores (6 of 21 events) – 1, Stanford 25; 2, Florida 17.
* * *
Stanford's remaining schedule:
Saturday:
3:05 p.m.: Women's discus final (Flight 2: Valarie Allman).
3:41 p.m.: Women's 1,500 final (Christina Aragon, Elise Cranny).
4:44 p.m.: Women's 800 final (Olivia Baker).
5:25 p.m.: Women's 5,000 final (Vanessa Fraser).
