ON THE NIGHT of June 7, within 105 minutes on the track at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas, two Stanford men culminated their collegiate track and field careers in dramatic fashion at the NCAA Championships.
Steven Fahy won the 3,000-meter steeplechase after a wild turn of events on the final lap. Soon after, Grant Fisher battled Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald in a renewal of their season-long duel.
The night had historical significance for Stanford. Fahy became the first in school history to win an NCAA title in that event. Then, Fisher concluded an era as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, distance runners in Stanford history. As for teammate Thomas Ratcliffe, the third-place finisher behind Fisher in the 5,000, his performance in Austin indicates a bright future.
A day after his race, Fahy barely could bend his right knee. His left shin was gashed and bloody. It was evidence of a battle that took place in a race that once looked like a cakewalk.
Through his five years at Stanford, Fahy's career was an upward trajectory. He didn't compete in an NCAA championship meet of any kind until his third year and didn't earn an All-America honor until his fourth. But 2017-18 proved to be a breakthrough year, as Fahy won the first of two Pac-12 steeplechase titles and placed third in the NCAA steeple.
That NCAA race proved instructive. Fahy had a chance to win when Houston's Edward Barraza, the runaway leader, hooked his toe around the top of a barrier on the final lap 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.
"The biggest thing that I think about Barraza's fall last year was how it opened up the race for me," Fahy said. "As a junior who was running really well, but didn't quite see myself as a national champ yet, I just had that little moment of hesitation and that's ultimately what lost it for me.
"Ever since that day, I've been thinking about how I'm going to handle the situation when the opportunity presents itself. That's been a huge mindset change. When I was talking to Coach Milt (Chris Miltenberg) and Coach (Dylan) Sorensen earlier, one of the things I said was, 'As simple as it seems, you can't beat someone without passing them and you can't win a race without taking a lead.'
"It sounds so simple. But for a guy who's moved his way up the ranks from being irrelevant to relevant but not winning races, to a guy who, this year, sees himself as somebody who could win a national championship, that's something that you really have to come to terms with. You actually have to get yourself to take that risk. It's easier said than done."
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Steven Fahy. Photo by Kirby Lee/Image of Sport.
THIS SEASON, Fahy vowed to run more aggressively and with more confidence.
"That little bit of gutsiness that you need to be able to actually put your body up front and go for it, is something that I generated this year," Fahy said. "Even though I wasn't running crazy fast times, other than that one 5K (13:34.80) at Cardinal Classic, the biggest maturity that I've gotten this year was being able to tell myself, I can go win this thing. I can win every race that I get into.
"In order to do that, you have to win the race in your own mind 100 times before you do. That's the big difference this year. I worked through all the scenarios and I told myself coming into every race: Dude, you can win this thing."
In the NCAA race, Fahy confidently moved up the field before coming up fast on the outside shoulder of leader Daniel Michalski of Indiana on the backstretch of the final lap.
On the water jump, outside the final turn, Michalski, perhaps feeling the presence of Fahy, lost his balance as he landed and tumbled forward.
Fahy was in front with a huge lead and only one barrier left.
"The big thing was trusting myself and trusting in our training," Fahy said. "Yeah, maybe I haven't run 8:25 yet, but I'm the strongest guy in the field. When you're running in the heat in Texas and guys are falling and all kinds of stuff, it really does come down to who's strongest. I just had to trust that the strength that I've built this whole season was going to pay off when it really mattered.
"I never felt more confident than I did 300 out when we separated and it was just the two of us," Fahy said. "That was a great position for me to be in and one of the things I definitely envisioned. I felt I could go past him through the water and run really strong down the last home straight. I was definitely prepared to do that.
"Whether or not he had fallen, I put myself in a really good position. I had a full head of steam and I felt really good."
As Fahy hurdled the final barrier, he caught the right toe of his trail leg on the front edge. Fahy's right knee plunged into the track and his left shin landed on the metal rail. As Fahy was sprawled across Lane One, Obsa Ali, the defending champion from Minnesota, and Oklahoma State's Ryan Smeeton realized they had new life.
Fahy, still on the ground, looked to his right. His 15-meter lead was disappearing quickly.
"I was thinking, I still have a chance," Fahy said. "I was surprised to not see any bodies go by me. Just very lucky. Part of it was the ground that I made up on the backstretch. As soon as I started rolling and felt my feet again, all I was thinking was, I've still got a chance. I've just got to keep going.
"The first thing I felt when I got back up was, Man, I still feel really good," Fahy said. "I tried to accelerate as best I could. I had no idea how fast the other guys were going relative to me."
Fahy pulled himself up and had enough left to hold off Smeeton by five meters, running 8:38.46 to win by 0.6 of a second.
"Falling over that last barrier is a perfect way to sum up my collegiate career," Fahy said. "Nothing's come easy, and it's not always going to happen the way you think it's going to or the way that you envision it. But if you keep your nose in it and you really believe that you're going to get there, and if you put in that work over those years, that's why all this happens."
Fahy lived the mantra that Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field, preaches nearly every day to his runners: to push through the obstacles when things aren't perfect. Fahy was proud of the way he kept his composure, and that perseverance was no accident. It's how the Cardinal trains every day for unforeseen moments like this.
"It feels pretty awesome," Fahy said after the race. "This is so much bigger than me. This is really about the guys back home. It's more to be able to show the young guys in our program what five years of purposeful work in our system gets you.
"This is to show all the guys that you don't always have it perfect, but you can come through and win when it matters because you trust yourself and have faith in what we're doing. Even when things aren't going perfect, if you can keep putting yourself in it and keep showing up every day purposefully, this thing works."
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Grant Fisher. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
DAYS AFTER FISHER raced for the final time for Stanford, he signed with the powerful Oregon-based Bowerman Track Club. He will again be teammates with alums Sean McGorty, Vanessa Fraser, and Elise Cranny. In keeping with the Stanford theme, his agent is Tom Ratcliffe, the father of Thomas, and Fisher will be coached by Jerry Schumacher, the father of Stanford teammate Joshua Schumacher.
A case can be made that Fisher is the greatest runner in Stanford history. He and Chris Derrick '12 are the only Stanford runners to place among the top five in NCAA cross country three times. But of the two, only Fisher won two conference cross country titles or won an NCAA individual title in cross country or track.
Only Brad Hauser '99, with five top-three finishes and a total of three titles at 5,000 and 10,000, and Gabe Jennings '02, who had three top-three 1,500 finishes including a title and an Olympic Trials championship, can match Fisher's three top-three NCAA outdoor distance finishes – all in the 5,000 and including a 2017 victory. However, neither Hauser nor Jennings came close to matching Fisher's achievements in cross country.
Fisher's rival, though they share a mutual respect, was McDonald. Three times in 2018-19, McDonald was first and Fisher second in an NCAA final -- one each in cross country, the NCAA indoor 3,000, and the NCAA outdoor 5,000. Fisher did beat McDonald in the Millrose Games indoor 3,000 in New York City in an American collegiate record time.
In Austin, Fisher came onto leader McDonald's shoulder with 1,300 to go, and moved into the lead with 500 left.
"The race was pretty crowded with a couple of laps to go," Fisher said. "I really wanted to be at the front when it started really racing. I did that. Got to the front, and was out of trouble."
Going into each turn on the final lap, McDonald made a bid for the lead, but Fisher worked hard to hold him off. McDonald wrested the lead away with 80 meters to go and extended it to the finish, winning in 14:06.01 to Fisher's 14:06.63. Coming on strong in third was Thomas Ratcliffe, in 14:07.92.
"I thought I did a good job of squeezing it down and executing my gears," Fisher said. "He had a little extra at the end. That's how it is sometimes, when you execute really well and someone else executes better."
Asked to reflect on his Stanford career, Fisher felt one word best described it: "consistent."
"That's what I strive to be," Fisher said. "Ideally, I wouldn't be the guy that has a breakthrough year and then you never hear from again. I pride myself in being able to compete for the win in every race I'm in, whether it's slow or fast. A championship race or a dual meet. I like to put myself out there and I like to race.
"That's what I enjoy doing. I love racing."
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Thomas Ratcliffe. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
STANFORD HAS WON a men's distance race at the NCAA Outdoor Championships the past three years, by three different runners. Fisher won the 5,000 in 2017, Sean McGorty won the 5,000 in 2018, and Fahy is the latest. If there's a successor in 2020, Ratcliffe could be it.
A junior academically, Ratcliffe completed in only one race in cross country or track his first two years at Stanford because of injuries. He was eighth in the 2016 Pac-12 Cross County Championships, earning conference Freshman of the Year honors.
Ratcliffe made his collegiate track debut this spring, but coaches and teammates knew his potential. A 13:32.81 in his first collegiate 5,000, at the Cardinal Classic on April 19, was an indication.
In Austin, Ratcliffe ran conservatively most of the race, staying in the back of the lead pack. But as he picked off runners over the final two laps, he emerged behind only McDonald and Fisher.
"A lot of people will talk about Thomas and how he came out of nowhere this year," Fisher said. "But he's been methodical. He's done a great job and it's been day after day.
"I look up to his work ethic for sure. The kid grinds like nobody I've ever seen. He's well-deserving of what happened."
Sporting a Mohawk hairstyle fashioned by the scissors and skill of teammate Alex Ostberg, Ratcliffe described his race strategy.
"I knew Grant and Morgan would probably get away from me," Ratcliffe said. "I just tried to keep everyone else in my range. It was so bunched up until the last 300 meters that I just said, All right, pick this guy off, pick this guy off.
"I wasn't really worried about getting third, or second, or fourth. I was just trying to score as many points as I could."
With all he had been through, Ratcliffe appreciated what it took to get such a result.
"It's absolutely a blessing," he said. "I absolutely would not be here without the coaching staff, the medical staff, my friends back home, family, and everyone. That's the best part, getting to celebrate with them and see where all their hard work got me."
The torch leaves the hands of Fisher and Fahy, just as it left the hands of those such as Derrick and McGorty.
"The biggest thing I learned from Grant is how he handled himself, how he treats his teammates," Ratcliffe said. "It's everyone else before him. It's being humble in victory, being humble in defeat.
"He's an extremely classy guy and just seeing that day in and day out, that's the biggest thing. His work ethic and attitude. That's really what makes him special."
Four athletes – Fahy, Fisher, Ratcliffe, and decathlon runner-up Harrison Williams – finished fifth as a team, giving the Cardinal its highest NCAA outdoor place since 2001. The Cardinal beat traditional powers Texas A&M and LSU, and finished higher than any other Pac-12 school.
As Fisher left the track that night in Austin, he had one more message before removing his Stanford singlet for the final time.
"I'm proud to have run here," he said.
Harrison Williams, Grant Fisher, Thomas Ratcliffe, Steven Fahy. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.