A year after fall, Mason Ferlic comes back to win NCAA steeplechase

By Kylee O’Connor

After falling headfirst into Hayward Field’s steeplechase water barrier at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships last year, Mason Ferlic was looking to prove himself.

One year later, at the NCAA championships 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday, Ferlic left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was the best runner in the field.

Ferlic, a redshirt senior at Michigan, led nearly the entire race and won in a personal best time of 8 minutes, 27.16 seconds.

“It was kind of like a rags to riches story, I guess—something like that,” he said. “But, I try not to think about that fall. I’m past it, you know, I can have a good sense of humor about it. It changed me as a person and an athlete and just made me stronger.”

His parents, Mike and Charlotte Ferlic, agreed that their son’s sense of humor helped.

“He rolls with the punches,” Mike said. “Having a good sense of humor when something like that doesn’t go your way—it’s a good way to help you recover and continue on.”

Ferlic took the lead less than a lap into it, and continued to push the pace as the race went on. At one point, he led the rest of the field by nearly 50 meters. He won by over three seconds and was roughly 20 meters ahead of second- and third-place finishers Frankline Tonui of Arkansas and Edwin Kibichiy of Louisville.

“The opportunity presented itself where I almost just said, ‘I’m going to go for it, I know I’m fitter, I’m faster,’” Ferlic said. “I just started to press up front and I started to get some separation, so I just kept on ratcheting it down.”

Ferlic didn’t want to repeat his misfortune of last year, when he clipped his foot and dove into the water barrier, as if he were diving into a regulation swimming pool. He got up and finished last.

If he hadn’t faltered at the final water barrier, Ferlic might have kept that lead that he had extended to nearly 50 meters.

“I just kind of landed awkward coming off of it and it just blew all of my momentum,” he said. “It felt like I was swimming through water the last 200, but hey, I won, I got there,” he said.

Ferlic came into nationals with the top collegiate time this season, and fitter and stronger than he’s ever been, he said. He wanted to come out and run what he knew he was capable of, especially, after all that he went through last year.

“I just came in here to prove it,” Ferlic said. There wasn’t any type of redemption or anything on my mind. I was just here to prove that I could win.”

Kylee O'Connor

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