Track and Field has played a big role in most of my life. I began sprinting in middle school, collected three team state titles in high school and went on to earn a scholarship to compete on the Division I level in college. Later, I was a volunteer assistant coach for an elite youth track program in Atlanta — which itself has produced countless collegiate athletes — and then head coach of a competitive parks and recreation club in Charlotte, N.C.
So not surprisingly, I found myself locked into the broadcast of the NCAA Outdoor Championship in Eugene, Ore. The race we’ll talk about for years to come was delivered by USC’s Kendall Ellis, the anchor on the 4x400-meter relay team. She ran a race for the ages, storming back from at least 75 meters behind on the anchor leg to win on a lean at the line with an astounding 50.01 split.
The fight, guts and determination Ellis demonstrated cannot be overstated. See for yourself:
I’m still in awe of her fearless, tenacious effort to clinch for her team the overall national championship.
But Ellis wasn’t the only athlete grabbing my attention. It was also Brian Barraza, whose name may soon be forgotten, but whose heart was on full display for the fans packed into the Hayward Field stands.
Barraza, always recognizable by his signature red headband, runs the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the University of Houston. In the Finals of the event, he bolted out and away from the pack to take full command from the gun.
With so much on the line, Barraza didn’t play it safe or use a wait-and-see approach. He knew what he wanted and took a risk by jumping ahead and even extending the lead with a pace that did not at first seem sustainable. But with each lap, he maintained his calm — and his distance — on the field, right through the bell lap.
That kind of strategy reverberates through the field with all kinds of uncomfortable messaging — I’m not backing down, I’m not afraid, I’m going for it and I’ll suffer the pain when it’s all over. You have to respect that.
But on the final lap, as he approached the first bar, Barazza stuttered then clipped it with his foot, crashing hard onto the track and losing all of his hard-gain advantage in an instant.
He wasn’t tired, he said. He just misjudged his approach. That alone could be a sign of fatigue after pushing so hard throughout, but Barazza chalked it up to a technical error, not a mental one.
He could have bowed out right then, with 300 meters left. He’d hurt his shoulder and knee in the spill and struggled to regain his balance as he stood up. Instead, his most immediate thought was that he wanted to place high enough to pick up a point for the contending Cougars.
“Honestly the first thing that went to my head is like, Okay, top eight gets points, we need points. So once I popped up, it was like, okay, I need to get moving, I need to get in some sort of position where I can vie for these points,” he told LetsRace.com.
Barazza ended up pointless in 10th place. The winner, Minnesota’s Obsa Ali, set a school record for the Gophers. He acknowledged the misstep by Barazza that further opened the door for his victory, but with under a lap to go, he was ready to apply pressure anyway.
Barazza undoubtedly knew the heat was coming. Whether that pressure affected him is unclear. What is certain, though, is that he didn’t quit. He got back up and finished what he started — running a valiant race that took a lot of audacity and grit.
It did not go unnoticed by his teammates, either. Cameron Burrell, son of the great track star Leroy Burrell, dedicated his 100-meter victory to Barazza. Eli Hall, the 100-meter runner-up, lauded Barazza afterward.
“We’re here to lean on each other when we need each other and we’re going to be there for Brian,” Hall said in his post-race interview. “Brian’s a great dude, a great guy, one of the greatest guys, ever. He’s going to have a long career, I believe.”
Barraza, humbled: “That’s his moment, and he decided to share that with me because I didn’t get the moment that I wanted. That’s just a testament to the caliber of the man.”
He wasn’t awarded with a win, but he got a lot out of it, nevertheless. Pursue your goals with relentless passion. It’s better to have given it your all and failed than to not have tried your best at all.
