McGorty Leads Stanford Charge

Published by David Kiefer/Stanford SID on September 26, 2015

STANFORD, Calif. –  When Stanford junior Sean McGorty sees his freshman teammate Grant Fisher, he realizes how different they’ve been, even though their success Saturday was similar, with a top-two finish at the Stanford Invitational.

When McGorty arrived in 2013, he was aggressive, determined to run every workout with the fastest groups and take on more than what was asked. His approach may have contributed to an injury that sidelined him for several months. 

Fisher, the two-time Foot Locker national high school champ, has taken a more patient approach – simply willing to accept a more tempered approach and hold back when necessary. That was their gameplan Saturday and a reason why there is so much optimism with the program.

McGorty ran 23:07.0, the fastest collegiate time ever in this meet over the 8-kilometer (4.97-mile) distance, which has been in place since 1989 (the course was modified in 2010, making it flatter and faster). His performance highlighted victories by both the Stanford men and women at the 42nd annual cross country meet at the Stanford Golf Course.

Fisher ran his first race longer than 5K (3.11 miles) and made up much ground over the final mile to run down Chico State’s William Reyes for second, in 23:33.9. However, it did not count as Fisher’s Stanford debut because he ran unattached to protect a possible redshirt year. Head coach Chris Miltenberg, Stanford’s Franklin P.  Johnson Director of Track and Field, is bringing Fisher along slowly and said the soonest the freshman would race next, if at all, is the Pac-12 Championships on Oct. 30 in Colfax, Washington.