8 — Friday, January 16, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
One step at a time for Ferlic
Redshirt junior
heads into third
season running
steeplechase
By MATTHEW KIPNIS
Daily Sports Writer
Wisconsin runner Alex Brill
was struggling with one lap to
go as Michigan’s Mason Ferlic
closed in. Feeling energized
by his teammates’ cheers from
the background, Ferlic found
himself in contention to win
the 2013 Big Ten Outdoor
Championships
in
just
his
second-career steeplechase.
Ferlic had jumped over his
27th barrier of the race, with
just the water pit and one more
hurdle to go. Ferlic was in awe
that he was moments away from
winning his first championship
title. But with 300 meters left,
Brill slid out over the water pit,
taking Ferlic down.
Ferlic lost his balance and
with it, the chance of victory.
“All I remember is hitting the
ground,” Ferlic said. “It was a
great ‘what if?’ If I hadn’t fallen,
I could have won. It bothered me
in the fact that it was a missed
opportunity to possibly win a
championship and obviously
score points for the team.”
Ferlic recovered from his fall,
and finished the race in fourth
place. He was just a redshirt
freshman, but he had already
come so far.
Even today, Ferlic has trouble
comprehending how fast he
has progressed. Before he even
knew the ins and outs of the
steeplechase, he was thrust
onto the national level.
The fall into the water pit
wasn’t a setback, but rather
another step along the journey
for Ferlic, who continues to
fight even when he gets knocked
down.
* * *
For
Ferlic,
running
has
always
been
about
taking
one
step
at
a
time
—
setting
goals
to
overcome
the
current
hurdles ahead
of him.
Most
runners begin their career at a
younger age, but Ferlic played
soccer as a kid and didn’t start
running until high school. After
some friends convinced Ferlic
to go out for the track team his
freshman year, he realized his
passion.
His first goal was to simply
catch up to the competition and
overcome his inexperience.
“I wasn’t particularly fast or
a talented runner,” Ferlic said.
“You wouldn’t pick me out and
say, ‘Oh, that kid is going to be
fast at running.’ I guess I wasn’t
even a great athlete when I was
young because I was a skinny,
scrawny rail at that point with
no muscle, but I enjoyed it.”
Ferlic fell in love with the
sport’s individual competitive
nature, and though he started
after
most
runners,
he
could
easily
overcome
that
disadvantage.
He
controlled
his fate each practice and each
race, which kept him at ease.
It was up to him in a race and
during training to get better at
a sport that is governed by the
stopwatch and nothing more.
He then started setting loftier
goals, such as reaching the state
meet and then winning both the
1,600-meter race at states then
to win the 3,200-meter race
along the way.
“I don’t know if there is one
thing that stands out about him
when you first look at him,” said
Michigan cross country coach
Kevin Sullivan. “But I think
once you get to know Mason,
then you see he has a very strong
inner drive and competitiveness
that not a lot of athletes have.
The way he approaches it
mentally sets him apart from
a lot of his competition. He is
someone that, unless everything
is 100 percent perfect, then it’s
not satisfying.”
Sophomore
Ben
Flanagan
added: “He is very driven and
well aware that success doesn’t
come easy. He is willing to put
in as much as effort as he needs
to achieve his goals and there is
no goal that he doesn’t think he
can achieve.”
Ferlic ended up using his
inexperience to his advantage.
Rather
than
holding
him
back, it motivated him to work
harder and not be satisfied with
catching up to the pack.
Instead, he led it.
* * *
Then
came
Ferlic’s
next
step: college track. In addition
to an academic and social
change, the move to Ann Arbor
eventually became Ferlic’s first
true
running
challenge.
“Freshman
year
cross
country went
probably
as
poorly
as
it
could
possibly
go
for a freshman
season,” Ferlic
said. “I had
quite
a
few
ups and downs in college, much
more than high school. At that
point, you are just a high school
runner versus guys that are
college runners, and there is
a huge gap. That was kind of a
tough pill to swallow.”
Ferlic was determined not
to let that stop him, and as he
watched older runners, notably
then-senior Craig Forys, he
learned how to remain calm
yet confident before a race. As
he continued to learn from the
best, his desire to follow in their
footsteps grew even larger.
Then, during his sophomore
year, Ferlic broke his foot
and
was
diagnosed
with
mononucleosis and anemia.
“It was kind of a rough first
two years,” Ferlic said. “It was
tough because at that point I
had found my ground, training
was clicking and things were
coming together. To be sidelined
again was disappointing.”
Through
that
hardship,
though,
he
found
the
steeplechase. After Ferlic put up
practice times on the border of
reaching the regional meet for
the 5K while recovering, former
cross country coach Alex Gibby
wanted to give him a chance
at the steeplechase during the
outdoor portion of his redshirt
freshman season. Now, he had
to run five fewer laps, jump over
four hurdles and leap across a
water pit.
It was just an idea at first,
something for him to try while
recovering. But when he ran
the steeplechase for the first
time in the Toledo Invitational
and finished first, he found his
newest calling.
“I never considered myself
a steeplechaser for the first
year,” Ferlic said. “It was kind
of that side event that I tried
out instead of the 5K, but I have
certainly fallen in love with it.”
* * *
And after he had taken that
stumble going into the last leg
of the Big Ten Championships,
the
success
came
rushing
in. He finished fourth in the
3,000-meter steeplechase at the
2013 NCAA East Preliminary
Rounds,
qualifying
for
the
NCAA
Championships
but
failing to reach the finals. He
finished 13th that year, earning
All-America
second-team
honors.
As a redshirt
sophomore,
Ferlic was ready
to
take
the
next step and
make the 2014
NCAA Outdoor
Championships.
But
one
race
stood
in
his
way,
the
one
race in which he
had taken his first fall on the big
stage.
During the 2014 Big Ten
Outdoor
Championships
it
happened again. Ferlic clipped
the second barrier and fell. In
this race, though, he had time
to rebound, remembering the
pain he felt the year before. He
finished the race in third place,
improving
on
the
previous
season’s time by more than four
seconds.
He then was ready to take
on the NCAA Finals, which he
had missed by half a second the
previous year. Not forgetting
his mistakes, instead embracing
them, Ferlic qualified for the
2014 NCAA Championships and
finished fourth to earn his first
All-American first-team honors
in track.
“He has made really good
strides in the last three years
progressing through the ranks
of the NCAA,” Sullivan said.
“For him, as long as he stays
injury-free over the next year
and he is able to consistently
train, I don’t see a reason why
he can’t take a step up next
year.”
It was then that Ferlic took
what he had learned on the
national stage and carried that
success
into
cross
country,
improving from 22nd in the
NCAA
Championship
his
redshirt sophomore year to 13th
place this past fall. Ferlic also
led the Wolverines in all six
events, carrying Michigan to an
11th-place finish at the NCAA
Championships — its highest
finish in 12 years.
“The fact that we came out
of cross-country season with
him having his best finish ever
is going to build a lot of natural
confidence as we go into the
indoor and outdoor season,”
Sullivan said.
* * *
Even with all his success in
the steeplechase, Ferlic doesn’t
tell people he runs that event,
because hardly anyone knows
what it is. He understands that
as he runs down State Street,
people won’t be shouting his
name. Most don’t even know
who he is, but that doesn’t
bother him.
It’s
about
the
personal
satisfaction
and
trying
to
improve upon his goals and help
the team. It’s about improving
where he is as a runner and
showing the young runners that
even if you have a beginning like
he did, you can still end up at the
top.
“Firstly, I look up to him to
try to achieve the same results
he has, and secondly to be the
type of runner he is,” Flanagan
said. “It is something I would
like to see in myself one day.”
This season Ferlic hopes to
carry his cross country success
into this track season as he
attempts to surpass his fourth-
place finish a year ago.
He is humble, knowing that
he
owes
where he is
to the hard
work that he
has put in to
get over each
adversity.
Each
year
he has taken
that
next
step,
even
with a few
falls
along
the way.
At this point, the worst thing
that could happen is falling
down. But even if he is face-first
in a water pit, it won’t matter.
Mason Ferlic will get back up.
He’s done it before.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Ferlic slipped and fell just short of his first steeplechase title, but has since become an All-American in the event.
Michigan looks
to halt road woes
Wolverines seeking
first road win at
Northwestern after
historic victory
By JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Writer
In its last three games at
Crisler Center, the Michigan
women’s basketball team has
knocked off three traditional
conference powerhouses: Penn
State, Michigan State and Ohio
State. It’s not just the first time
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico has beaten all three in one
season — it’s the first time the
Wolverines have done it since
the 2000-01 season.
But
despite
its
recent
accomplishments,
Michigan’s
success this season remains
largely confined to Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines (3-2 Big Ten,
11-5 overall) have just two wins
away from home, and both
occurred at a neutral site in the
San Juan Shootout. In its four
true road games this season
— including Big Ten contests
against Wisconsin and No. 24
Rutgers — Michigan is winless.
Saturday,
the
Wolverines
head to Evanston looking to
end their road skid against
a
Northwestern
team
that
is undefeated at home. The
Wildcats
(3-2,
13-3)
have
already beaten Michigan State
twice, and their only losses of
the season came in tough road
matchups at Ohio State and No.
22 Iowa.
“They’re
playing
exceptionally
well,”
Barnes
Arico
told
WTKA
Radio
on Tuesday. “They have all
returning starters, and they’re
playing at a
really,
really
high
level.
That
will
be
a
huge
challenge for
us, especially
on the road.”
Like
the
Wolverines,
Northwestern
has succeeded
primarily
because of a
balanced scoring attack. Led
by forward Nia Coffey’s 15.4
points per game, the Wildcats
have four starters averaging
double
digits.
Northwestern
also boasts a talented 3-point
shooter in guard Maggie Lyon,
who is shooting 45.2 percent on
93 attempts from beyond the arc
and has led her team in scoring
during conference games.
But Michigan has had nearly
a full week to prepare for the
Wildcats. With no weekday
game following the victory over
the Buckeyes on Sunday, the
Wolverines have used the time
off to rest and rejuvenate before
the road test ahead.
“It gives our kids a chance
to get a great day off,” Barnes
Arico said. “They come in
and get treatment, they get
massages, they get taken care of
by our trainer and really work
on their recovery. They played a
lot of minutes in a super physical
game (against Ohio State). We
make sure they’re resting their
legs, getting some treatment
on their legs after playing an
overtime game like that.”
The extra practice time has
also given Michigan a chance
to focus on its own game
before jumping into scouting
Northwestern. Earlier in the
week, the players divided up to
watch film with their respective
position coaches, trying to work
out the kinks in their individual
games before worrying about
opponents.
The Wolverines hope their
extra preparation and fresh
legs will help them avoid falling
into early holes like they have
in their previous road games.
In each of its four road losses,
Michigan has fallen behind
early
and
been
unable
to
recover. Against Wisconsin and
Rutgers, the Wolverines were
able to erase enormous deficits
with second-half spurts, but
they still ultimately suffered
double-digit losses.
But trailing by six points with
4:16 remaining against Ohio
State, Michigan showed it does
have the capability to finish off
a comeback. On the strength of
senior guard Shannon Smith’s
36-point performance (24 of
which came in the second half
and overtime), a pair of clutch
3-pointers
from
freshman
guard Katelynn Flaherty and
an astonishing
12
offensive
rebounds
from
senior
forward
Cyesha
Goree (19 in
total),
the
Wolverines
eked
out
a
hard-fought
100-94
victory.
“The
confidence they had, the drive,
the passion, the refuse-to-lose
attitude — it was incredible,”
Barnes Arico said. “It was a
special day for our program, for
sure.”
Ideally, Michigan will want
to emulate the strong first-half
defense it has showed the past
three home games rather than
allowing more early scoring
runs. But if the Wolverines slip
up and still have a chance at a
late-game comeback against the
Wildcats, Barnes Arico knows
she has the players to pull it off.
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Kim Barnes Arico’s team is 0-4 on the road this season and faces another
tough test Saturday night in Evanston against Northwestern.
“(Sunday) was a
special day for
our program,
for sure.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Mason Ferlic is coming off a fourth-place finish nationally in the steeplechase.
“The way he
approaches it
mentally sets
him apart.”
“It was a great
‘what if?’ If I
hadn’t fallen, I
could have won.”