This weekend Grant Fisher defended his Foot Locker national title in a blazing time of 15 minutes, 3 seconds over the 3.1-mile course at San Diego’s Morley Field to become the fifth man to repeat at the meet. He bested his winning time from last year's championships by four seconds, and still had some energy left in the tank.

“Running fast on courses has not really been something I have focused on,” said Fisher. “I’ve always been gunning for the places, especially for cross country with the different courses and conditions. Time isn’t as good of a gauge as places, it is in track but not so much in cross. Actually today was some of the best conditions I have raced in all year."

“No matter what the time was, if I ran 17 minutes today and pulled it off, I’d still be really happy. Although the time was a bit improved, I don’t think it’s 100 percent reflective of my fitness right now. It would be fun to time trial right now just to figure out what kind of shape I’m in and do it with these guys on the track.”

Other FloRunner nominees:

Lincoln's pick: Olin Hacker
Placing 2nd at Foot Locker is impressive. Placing 2nd at FL just one week after getting 2nd at NXN is incredible. Olin Hacker accomplished this feat, completing the best high school double of the season. The senior from Madison, WI will now head to Wisconsin, where his father Tim was an NCAA XC champion in 1985.

Gordon's pick: Ryan Hill
Ryan Hill is my FloRunner of the Week because he won Cross Country Club Nationals. As the wise Curtis Jackson once said,“You can find Hill at club nationals, bottle full of bub.” Man! My FloRunner blurbs are getting weak these days. Happy holidays!


Meg's pick: Brian Shrader 
NAU's Brian Shrader ran an NCAA #1 13:40 for 5k on Friday night in Indiana. After exhausting his XC eligibility and winning the U.S. 12k championships, Shrader locked down the top collegiate mark after dropping the hammer over the final 800m, beating Texas' Craig Lutz by seven seconds. 

Joe's pick: Laura Thweatt
You know how you guarantee that you won’t lose? Make sure no one is around you. That’s the approach Laura Thweatt took to the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, running away from the field pretty much from the outset of the 6-K race en route to finishing first in 19:14.41, some 10 seconds clear of runner-up Tara Erdmann.