Grant Fisher's greatness

A track 'rock star' in Boston

As a track coach at Marist, we’ve been coming to indoor track meets at Boston University for more than two decades. A long time ago, I christened it the “Magic Carpet” for an atmosphere and competition that has garnered so many fast times – for our program and for many, many others – through the years.

Nowhere was that magic more pulsating than on Friday night, as the Track and Tennis Center thumped with the energy of a world-record attempt at 5,000 meters. Grant Fisher, the star of the show, did not disappoint.

Fisher hammered lap after lap after relentless lap, the first few with the help of pacesetters. After the 25 laps that constitutes 5,000 meters, his finish-line clock stopped at 12:44.09 – a world record. That averages out to 30.56 seconds per lap, or 4:05.88 per mile. Fast, fast, fastest.

I was in the infield to watch the record attempt. I’ve spent hours upon hours in that infield, urging Marist athletes to run faster, dutifully noting their every lap split. This time, I was just one of hundreds crowding the track – inside and outside that famous oval we’ve called our winter home for so long.

This was Fisher’s second world record in the span of a week, having smashed the world indoor best at 3km six days prior at the Millrose Games in New York City.

For a sport that is constantly straining for relevance, special nights like this resonate. They make track matter. And no one was greater, no one more up to the challenge, than Grant Fisher, in Boston, on an awesome Friday night.