Photo by David Kiefer
SAN FRANCISCO – Thomas Ratcliffe became the fourth in Stanford history to be named Pac-12 Men's Freshman Athlete of the Year in cross country.
Ratcliffe, making his collegiate debut, was the top freshman at the Pac-12 Championships on Friday, placing eighth in Tucson, Arizona, while running as Stanford's No. 3 in a team runner-up finish. In his only previous race this season, Ratcliffe won the Stanford Invitational while running unattached on Oct. 1.
A soccer player in the fall at Concord-Carlisle (Mass.) Regional High, Ratcliffe did not run cross country at all in high school. However, he excelled on the track, running a 4:01.50 mile to set a New England high school record.
The most recent Stanford Freshman of the Year was Miles Unterreiner in 2009 when the conference was the Pac-10. Unterreiner went on to become a Rhodes Scholar. Previous Stanford winners were Neil Davis in 2002 and Donald Sage in 2000.
The Pac-12 also announced its all-conference teams. The top seven placers in each of the men's and women's divisions earned first-team honors, and those eighth through 14
th made the second team. Stanford had seven all-conference runners – four men and three women. Here is a list of Cardinal honorees:
Men
First team
Grant Fisher, so.
Sean McGorty, sr.
Second team
Thomas Ratcliffe, fr.
Garrett Sweatt, 5
th sr.
Women
Second team
Christina Aragon, fr.
Vanessa Fraser, RS jr.
Fiona O'Keeffe, fr.
This is the second first-team honor for McGorty and third overall. Fisher earns his first first-team honor and Sweatt, a fifth-year senior, receives all-conference honors for the first time. This is the second All-Pac-12 honor for Fraser.
