Fisher does it again, flies to Foot Locker win

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

 
SAN DIEGO -- At the bottom of the final, grueling hill at Morley Field on Friday there was a group of 8-9 runners ready to make the last big push at the Foot Locker Finals. 

By the time they crested the hill and then moved into position to surge for home there was only one -- Grant Fisher. 

Fisher, a Stanford recruit from Grand Blanc, Mich., joined recent champions Lukas Verzbicas and Edward Chersek by becoming a two-time Foot Locker champion.

"It's sweeter this year," Fisher said. "The pressure's a little different this year so it was a bit tougher coming out. The field is a lot higher caliber (than 2013) because a lot of them came back plus the addition of a few new guys. So to come out when the pressure is high and perform means a lot."

Nine members of the senior class who competed at Foot Locker a year ago studied the Morley Field hill. They found hills back home and drilled on them. 

Coach Mike Scannell found a new hill for Fisher to conduct his workouts on this fall, and simulated the final three minutes of the race over and over. 

Two days before the race, Fisher and Scannell picked out a tree 10 meters below the top of the hill. That was the cue for Fisher to go and to make the final push for home. 

"We went a little bit earlier this year," Scannell said. "(Fisher) went before the top of the hill this time. That's only about a 10 meters difference but it's a huge difference when guys haven't mentally gotten to the top of the hill (yet). We went before the minds said 'I can go too.'"

That was the break point. Fisher moved across the top of the hill and within a blink he was five meters ahead, then 10, then 15. 

Cruising down the hill, Fisher had the win locked away.

"We were a little concerned about slip on the hill, but I was happy he had separation (by that point)," Sannell said. "You could see Grant Fisher has more gasoline in his tank. I liked the way that looked."

A slower than expected second mile kept the pack together until the last hill. No one put down a big move in the second mile the way some might have expected. 

Fisher finished in 15:03 on a course that was damp and wet but vastly improved from Friday's rainstorm. Olin Hacker closed with a tremendous kick to grab second place in 15:12 and Elijah Armstrong was third in 15:13. Juniors Drew Hunter and Austin Tamagno were fourth and fifth, respectively, in 15:14 and 15:15.

Alex Ostberg, who ran side by side with Fisher through much of the second mile, faded just a bit at the end and was ninth. 

John Dressel, runner-up to Fisher in 2013, tripped, fell and skinned his knees on the top of the final hill. It didn't cost him much time but he said afterwards he just didn't quite ahve it. Matthew Maton, another of the top contenders after finishing third in 2013, was never a factor. He ran mid-pack and finished 19th. 

"I'm doing alright, just had a real bad race," Maton said. 

The West defended its "team" title with 31 points to 37 for Midwest.