DyeStat


The Internet Home of Track & Field






GERMAN FERNANDEZ | 07-08 dyestat boys athlete of the year

This is the second of a series of DyeStat year-end awards for 2007-08. Following the announcement of the DyeStat Girls and Boys Athletes of the Year will be The DyeStat Most Outstanding Performers series, which will include top honors for boys and girls distances, sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws, relays, and multi-events. Selections are made by DyeStat editors and are based a combination of multiple major victories/honors won and performances on all-time and yearly lists. Performances from outdoor track, indoor track, and cross-country are taken into account.

Photo by Vic Sailer, Photorun.net

The figurative deck of cards wasn’t the only thing stacked against German Fernandez entering his senior season of high school. Try every deck, every dealer, every gaming table, every slot machine, every sports book and every other game of skill or chance housed within every casino in the country.

The odds tell us he had no odds. The history tells us he didn’t have the history. The chance makers tell us he had no chance.

And this is exactly where German Fernandez thrives.

Just as he had done before, the 17-year-old distance-running prodigy not only embarrassed the odds – and the odds makers – in tasting ultimate success, he pummeled them into merciless submission.

How else to explain the way in which the sport’s most revered track record was smashed… by a kid who didn’t even rank in the top 50 in the nation in his event just a year earlier.

How else to fathom the manner in which the 8:30 barrier was threatened…by a teen who’d never come close to breaking nine minutes a year ago.

How else to comprehend a kid’s once debilitating physical fragility which shrank in the face of amazing resilience as he pulled off historic meet combinations and, ultimately, the greatest single-meet distance double in history.

An unbeaten season … an unthreatened ledger … the greatest distance double imaginable … the most jaw-dropping two-mile possible … thrashing the strongest eight-lap field ever assembled.

Meet Mr. German Fernandez of Riverbank CA, the 2008 DyeStat Boys Athlete of the Year.

“I was just happy to be able to put it all together and finish the season with a chance to show what I could do,” said Fernandez, his voice cracking just a tad as he explained the emotional ride. “To be able to get the national record and to be able to achieve all my highest goals was beyond my wildest dreams.”

A few doctors working at Stanford University back in 1991 would have to agree. So would the surgeons who operated on him in 2007. And maybe even those hecklers who would’ve dashed the spirits and aspirations of those with lesser resolve.

But this is the story of German Fernandez, a most gifted athlete, with a most interesting background, and clearly a most admirable level of self-respect. It is the amazing story of not only the greatest prep endurance track athlete of our time, but perhaps among the most unlikely and the most inspirational. It is one that should remind us anything is possible, so long as you stick to your dreams.

Beating ultimate odds … and living in a shoebox

 
German as an infant. Family photo
The story of German Fernandez could have easily – and literally – ended as quickly as it began. A severely premature birth and massive complications upon his arrival, the ultra-tiny infant was born just six months into term, a dangerously unlucky 13 weeks ahead of schedule. To this day, doctors and his parents are unable to explain exactly what caused the undeveloped birth, a harrowing ordeal that saw Fernandez born at the local hospital in Watsonville, then emergency airlifted to Stanford University Medical Center, among the world’s most renowned facilities for complex disorders.

According to his father, Armando, doctors first rated German’s chances of survival as “not too encouraging,” at best. Rigged up to a series of tubes and wires while housed in a specialized incubator, the newborn was a picture of extreme peril, weighing only three pounds and with a noticeably severe swelling having invaded his chest cavity. In the only available image of those early days, culled from the family photo album, it was fitting that the cutout of an over-sized heart was glued to a corner of the picture. He would need to have a fighting heart in order to survive.

A series of tests and medications, coupled with endless prayers, yielded little insight as to what caused the untimely birthing, and the affliction which would later plague German’s two later siblings who would also be born three- and two months premature, respectively. As time passed, the danger signs lessened and his chances at survival improved. Even so, his early stages of existence were unlike that of most newborns. Additionally, his diminutive size deemed him far too small for the conventional crib, carrier or stroller. So small, in fact, that early on he actually lived and slept in a shoebox.

“Super tiny; it had us worried for a while,” his dad recalled. Through the first six months, the hospital was German’s home.

Over time, however, the newcomer to the family began to grow and develop much like a normal toddler. Before too long, it appeared he indeed would grow up to be like any other healthy teenager. On one memorable June evening 17 years later, however, he would prove to be anything but normal.

On the move before he was on the move

The early years for German Fernandez were hardly ones of stability. Due to the complications at birth, residual trips to the hospital at a young age were commonplace. Aside from that, the family continually relocated. By the time he had reached junior high, Fernandez’s zig-zagging adventures had carried him to (depending on who you ask) eight to ten different schools. Along the way, those travels forced him to retake a grade, but he later also skipped a grade to get back on course.

Born and growing up in Watsonville, located roughly two-thirds of the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Fernandez at age 10 eventually moved with his family to Riverbank, a farming community of about 20,000 located just outside of Modesto. Both his father and mother, Hortentia, worked in the local cannery.

 
A very young German shows promise as a Riverbank yearling.  Photo Joe Hartman
Over time, the community evolved and has come to be known by the locals as two parts, ‘old Riverbank’ and ‘new Riverbank’. The old version carries an unwanted stigma to the natives, a remnant to the drug activity and crime-infested parts that have plagued the reputation of an area lined with canals, farms and one of the local liquor stores – where a fleet of drug dealers actively sets up court on the front steps. The new section of Riverbank is filled with those who yearn for a better life, with affordable and modernized tract housing, safe streets, a large mall and several new businesses, offering hope to a brighter future for the next generation.

The Fernandez family resided within ‘new’ Riverbank, where there was another school that German was “supposed” to go to, where most families would choose to have their children attend. But Fernandez’s parents enrolled him at Riverbank High instead, a school some locals acknowledge has its educational shortcomings. Nevertheless, Fernandez, who first tasted running success on a small scale before junior high, found his niche at the school and soon flourished as an athlete.

Before Applebee's, there was Kragen's

Football, basketball, soccer, and wheeling around the neighborhood on his “Razor,” Fernandez was an ultra-active teen who no longer showed signs of a problematic birth. Thanks to prodding from his cousin Omar, a varsity member of the school’s cross-country team, and a young assistant coach by the name of Johnny Vizcaino, German eventually gave running a shot during his freshman year track season. From the get-go, Vizcaino noticed the newcomer’s smooth assimilation into a 600-meter interval workout, where the rookie more than held his own.

Vizcaino quickly went to Bruce Edwards, the head cross-country coach whose career at the school spanned over four decades. In fact, Edwards had been around so long that he coached Vizcaino’s father when he was in high school.

“Bruce, this guy is goooood,” Vizcaino told Edwards at the time. The veteran coach, however, would not be impressed easily. After all, he’d seen talent before and appreciated the fact that dedication and hard work were required to excel.

Soon, however, he too was a believer.

Fast times came quickly, with a sub 4:40 for 1600 meters almost right out of the gate. And that was despite what we’d like to term an ‘equipment malfunction.’

German was excited for that first high school race, bouncing over to the local sporting goods store to secure some race-day footwear. With a little help from the salesperson, German found the perfect pair and made his way out the door.

Come meet day, Fernandez could not contain his giddiness.

“Hey Johnny, look at these cool flats,” said the ninth-grader as he danced around in the new shoes.

Vizcaino, spotting the new kicks, was left both shocked and amused at the unique-looking pair of Asics.

“Uhhhh, German,” Vizcaino said, “Those are volleyball shoes.”

Unfazed, German pressed ahead as if he had not heard or did not care. Later, being smooth, he coyly ditched those volleyball props in favor of a pair of Nike racing flats.

Then, in the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals of his freshman year, Fernandez reportedly caught the eyes of several of the coaches from Jesuit HS, a national perennial power. This time, it had nothing to do with wearing funny footwear.

“We were sitting in the stands and this one unknown kid just takes off and sets a hard pace,” recalled Scott Abbott, who ran and would later assist at Jesuit before going on to coach at UCLA and now at Sacramento State. “At first we thought, ‘OK, this kid is going to die and fall off pace.’ But then he keeps going, another 200 meters, and then another 200. … and then another. And this kid looked sooooo smooth. Immediately, I knew we’d all be hearing about this kid for a long time. A real long time.”

That almost didn’t happen.

Despite running 4:21 for the 1600m as a freshman, Fernandez had no druthers of competing in cross-country that following fall as a sophomore. Edwards, being no fool in realizing the kid’s potential, made a special visit to the local automotive parts store. He was looking to acquire an engine. An engine named German Fernandez.

 
The race that made all of California (and beyond) really take notice: 15:14 at state to win D4 as a soph.  Photo Kirby Lee, imageofsport.com
“I had to go down there (where German worked) and make my best pitch and convince him that running could open all the doors for him,” Edwards recalled. “He really wasn’t interested, but I wasn’t about to give up. He finally gave in and agreed to come out for the team, but I think it was just so I’d stop bothering him at work. Hey, whatever it takes!”

Planning smart, dangling the carrot

With Fernandez yet to be truly ‘hooked in’, the veteran coach concocted the perfect plan, at first only entering his protégé in races he was sure to win. He’d learned from other students that in addition to being very athletic, German was also fiercely competitive and hated to lose.  When playing games of “H-O-R-S-E” on the basketball court, the kid would never lose, partly because whenever he was about to be defeated, he’d successfully convince his opponent to extend the name of the game. Horse. Horses. Horseshoe. You get the picture.

“If I put him in a tough race too early and he lost, I risked losing him for good,” Edwards explained. “So I always put him in a race I knew he would win. Truth be told, he was talented enough that almost any race I’d put him in is one he’d win anyway.”

Reports from veteran analysts in Northern California made their way to the Southland’s DyeStatCal headquarters as the season began playing out and the superlatives were endless: “Incredible.” “Amazing.” “Mind-boggling.” “Incomparable.”

But because he did not travel far to meets, we did not have the chance to see for ourselves. It wasn’t until the state meet arrived that we’d see what this kid was made of. The pressure would be on, and he’d also have to face Chad Hall, Southern California’s best entry into the Division IV race in which German was entered.

Toward the tail end of a long day of coverage, with volumes of drama and history already playing out, the intriguing Fernandez Factor had already been forgotten. Then, while arriving at the base of a descent to watch the leaders approach the 2.1-mile mark, there he was: Perfect grace. Fluid motion. Total ease of effort. The leader blurred past outfitted in a burgundy singlet.

“Who the heck is th…” I began to ask. Then instantly, it hit me. This was the kid everyone had been raving to us about. It took two seconds to realize those reports were right on the nail, if not too conservative.

Fernandez went on to win that race going away in the third-fastest sophomore state meet time in Woodward Park course history (only behind arguably California’s two greatest prep cross-country all-timers, Bryan Dameworth and Louie Quintana), putting a huge gap on eventual runner-up Chad Hall. The same Chad Hall who would win Foot Locker Nationals the next year.  The precocious soph’s 15:14 was the 2nd fastest on the course that day, a second ahead of AJ Acosta (Div. I) and 10 seconds back of Michael Coe (Div. III), the eventual 1-2, respectively, at the Foot Locker Finals.

In the months leading to the meet, Fernandez had given occasional updates to younger relatives who inquired about his running success. Eventually his father would get wind of those reports and reportedly asked his son why he’d make up such tales. He figured his son had some talent, but these stories seemed a stretch. His dad unfortunately was unable to attend Fernandez’s state meet win as a sophomore. It wasn’t until he saw the newspaper headline the next day that, according to Vizcaino’s father, he became a true believer. And he cried with pride.

Torn meniscus, torn dreams?

Despite an amazing sophomore season that usually would reap escalating attention and outlandish predictions on Internet message boards, Fernandez’s rise to worldwide web fame took an unexpected ‘twist’ during the sophomore track season. That twist came on the blacktop during a pickup game of basketball. Fernandez landed awkwardly and the torque pressure on his right knee proved critical, leading to major pain.

Thought at first to be a serious sprain, Fernandez was to end up missing much of his tenth grade track season while recovering from what seemed to be an endless ailment. The summertime months came and went, as did much of his junior cross-country season, where re-aggravation after re-aggravation of the knee pain proved increasingly frustrating. It then spilled into his junior year track campaign. The kid who drew so much awe as a sophomore at Woodward Park had fallen off the radar.

Then the bad news came. It wasn’t a sprain, but something far worse: A torn meniscus, ripped in such a way and continually pressured that the damage was considerable. Surgery would be required.

 “It was not diagnosed right until four months later,” German recalled, reliving the frustration of nearly half a year of inactivity, including one full month of just laying down. “I was in bed for a month, doing nothing … When I woke up from surgery, I could hear five different doctors talking. It was very bad.”

Fernandez said the conversation was ominous, with doctors fearful that any problems from the procedure would risk possible arthritis down the road. Further, he said the doctors doubted a full return to high-end running was possible.

Months later, Fernandez’s comeback had progressed smoothly though, with his return to action coming just in time to have a chance to qualify for the postseason. Despite lacking any aerobic base training while competing in traditionally the strongest/deepest state in the nation for 3200-meter runners, he rebounded well enough to advance to the state meet, medaling in a third-place finish (9:08.05) in the state final.

A week later, with almost no racing under his belt and a thirst for competition, Fernandez was entered into the Golden West Invitational, where it was decided he would race in the mile. Still working off limited base, Fernandez was content to run with the lead pack for much of the way, then scurried away with a finishing kick some 350 meters out. Still lacking a true feel for fitness, his kick proved premature and he began settling into pace with 50 meters remaining. Miles Unterreiner, a savvy veteran racer from Gig Harbor HS in Washington, measured his own kick perfectly and caught Fernandez just before the finish to hand him defeat, 4:13.20 to 4:13.32.

 
German's record-crushing state meet effort as a senior (above) had him laid out after the finish (below).  But he was fine and Marc Davis's long-standing 14:38 was history.  Photos Kirby Lee, imageofsport.com
 
To this day, no one has beaten Fernandez on the track since.

Shoelaces & cheerleading, the legend grows

Senior year cross-country season brought wave after wave of personal validation and redemption for Fernandez, who was beating national-class runners by massive margins in early September. Skeptics remained … until he destroyed a solid field late that month in winning overall time honors at the Stanford Invitational, purring some 40 seconds faster to the finish than some of the top runners on the West Coast.

But aside from finish times and margin of victory, other vignettes added to the story. In one race, his shoe became untied and Vizcaino barked to alert him about it. No problem. Fernandez stopped in his tracks, knelt down and tied his shoe, then continued on in the race. Maybe that’s why he won by only a minute.

In another competitive race for the section championship, Fernandez’s Riverbank Bruins were in contention for the team title, but everyone had to come through. Knowing this, Fernandez made an extra effort to arrive at the finish line quickly, only to then double back 300 meters up the course to vociferously encourage teammates as they broke into finishing kicks. Those teammates reportedly were startled to find Fernandez so deep into the course and on the sidelines, wondering if he had even finished. But he did, and he knew his teammates needed rallying. In the end, the Bruins won the team title.

Cross-Country State Record!

Heading into his final state cross-country meet, Fernandez was in a total groove. Both course records and the competition were repeatedly being diced up. No longer did anyone have a chance at beating him within state lines. Privately, top Golden State runners shared their own ‘goals’ for the meet. “Have a time within a minute of German’s.” “Have ‘him’ still in sight by two miles.” “To be next to him for at least a few strides; a stride even.” “I don’t care how much he beats me by. I just want his autograph before I leave the park.”

Time-conversion charts utilizing results from the courses German had annihilated that fall all pointed to the same unquestioned data: Barring disaster, the course record – set more than two decades earlier by future Olympian Marc Davis – was going to be torpedoed. The 14:38 all-time standard didn’t have a chance. So certain was this development, that a call by the author of this story was put in to Davis in the days leading up to the meet: “Marc, just wanted to alert you. Your course record will be gone this weekend.”

Days later, Fernandez proved to be a gamer, torching the Woodward Park course from the race’s outset as the crowd began dwindling for the final race of a drawn-out, six-hour schedule. Rabid fans remained, knowing all too well they could witness something special.

Indeed it was. The ‘race’ was over early, and only a comparison against the watch remained. It was no contest. With the mid-afternoon sun casting down, Fernandez further heated up the park, blazing home in a stunning 14:24 that crushed Davis’ record. As soon as he crossed the finish, Fernandez collapsed in exhaustion like a pile of bricks. Once finish aides arrived, Fernandez quickly shot back to his feet and jogged through the chute, with volunteers, fans and paparazzi beginning to descend. This time, his parents were there. And prouder than ever.

 
After winning the USATF Jr. XC Trails, German had a solid international debut in Scotland.  Photo Kirby Lee.
Foot Locker Nationals, fishbowl fodder

The lone blemish on Fernandez’s storybook senior year came at Foot Locker Nationals, where the battle figured to be between him and Illinois star Chris Derrick, the Nike Team Nationals individual champion. Also in the mix were Luke Puskedra, who gamely battled Fernandez at the Foot Locker West Regional at Mt. SAC the week before, and Midwest Region champion Michael Fout, who beat Derrick head-on a few weeks prior.

In the biggest race of the year, Fernandez pulled a rookie mistake in forgetting his spikes on a day when the course was waterlogged from recent rains. Earlier that week, a published report also cited an injury he was dealing with. Derrick, too, appeared tired from his NTN win the week before. Puskedra, in his biggest lesson of the year, deviated from his typical racing style and became the one reacting to surges rather than creating them. In the end, it would not matter. Fout executed the perfect race and earned every bit the national title on the biggest day of the season, leaving all others – Fernandez included – to wonder what if and to become the subject of Sunday morning quarterbacks on the Internet message boards.

Trying to pull 'a fast one’ for Arcadia

Life after Foot Locker continued to showcase growth and improvement for Fernandez, including an impressive late-in-the-race kick to the USATF Junior Nationals cross-country title in San Diego in February, securing a berth to Scotland for the IAAF World Junior Championships the month after. Donning the red, white, and blue of Team USA, Fernandez led the Americans to a respectable finish while individually placing 25th in the world, including being the fastest from the United States and among the top finishers among non-African nations.

Fernandez became a household name and soon thereafter the track and field season was quickly approaching. A monster distance field was shaping up for the mid-April Arcadia Invitational in the Los Angeles area. Fernandez was set to go against Fout and Puskedra in the 3200-meter run, while Derrick was tentatively slated to run in the meet’s inaugural 5,000-meter run, although a switch to the 3200 was occasionally rumored and still possible.

But Fout withdrew from Arcadia by early March, with his coach citing possible missed class time and a heavy racing schedule as among the reasons. Shortly thereafter, word broke that Fout was ill and missing extensive training, a prelude to what would prove to be the end of his season.

German exults after winning the 3200 at state in 8:34.23 ... then sinks to the track and shows some emotion as the gravity of the moment hits him.  No, wonder - it was the greatest prep distance double ever.  Photos Rich Gonzalez
Fernandez returned from Scotland tired and weary from travel and from competing against a world-class teenage field on a very muddy 8-kilometer course. In his first few days of track practice, Fernandez donned racing flats as a means to put some life into his legs. Just the opposite occurred. Tired muscles were further extended, quickly leading to an inflamed Achilles. Five days before Arcadia, Edwards called to inform that Fernandez would have to pull out of the 3200. It seemed one of the headliners was gone for good.

Three days later, and just two days before the meet, Edwards called back to inform Fernandez was back in. Apparently, the Achilles had recovered and the tenderness was gone. The anticipated Puskedra-Fernandez showdown was back on, and additional last-minute lineup changes were possible. But hours later, the phone rang again. Edwards called to inform Fernandez would definitely be out of the meet, explaining that the high school senior tried to fake being healthy during a shakeout run that morning. An additional mid-afternoon jog led Edwards and Vizcaino to spot a slight hitch in Fernandez’s stride. Upon grilling him with questions, Fernandez admitted he was still hurting but wanted to race badly and assured he’d be fine.

“From then on,” Edwards said, “I knew I needed to monitor him extra closely.”

Greatest Distance Double & Nelson's record … both gone!

Once healthy again, Fernandez began to stockpile an amazing assortment of results, often incredible doubles and triples, with one meet culminating in a fourth race, the 4x400 meter relay. There had already been a 4:21/1:58/8:53 triple in mid-March before Arcadia, but message boards began to really light up in mid-May when he ran 4:05.57/9:00.10 in his sub-section, the 1600 being a huge PR.  A week later, at the SJS Finals, Fernandez was slightly slower in the 1600 (4:07.62) but made seismic waves with his 8:45.08.  At that point, the buzz about possible records really began.

Some of the pundits criticized Edwards’ approach as over-racing, but the careful, yet taxing approach continued, with Edwards employing the Jack Daniels training principles while racing his charge into peak shape.

By the end of the road, two key meets remained: The CIF-State Championships in Norwalk, CA and the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Both meets have since been well chronicled and will be discussed for years, if not decades.

At the California state meet, Fernandez first had to deal with yet another footwear issue, with former UCLA captain Bryan Green’s squidoo.com running legends website noting that Fernandez had to have a local jeweler file down the length of the perma-spikes on his racing shoes to be in compliance with the Cerritos College requirements for its multi-million dollar Mondo track surface. After that, there was nothing stopping Fernandez from posting the greatest single-day distance double in prep history.

Before a packed stadium of more than 10,000, as well as a live cable television audience, Fernandez rattled off an alarming series of 30-second splits for 200-meter segments in rolling to a state meet record time of 4:00.29 in the 1600 meters. Less than two-and-a-half hours later, Fernandez returned to record a National Federation record for 3200m, winning in a runaway 8:34.23, beating all in the stellar field by more than 30 seconds while the home-stretch crowd chanted, “Ger-man! Ger-man! Ger-man!” as he crossed the finish line on each of his last two laps.

It was minutes later that Fernandez was approached by Jeff Nelson, the national two-mile record holder, just outside the track area. Fernandez, encountering an innocent Freudian slip, did not at first recognize the name and why it rang familiar.

 
German has company in the NON 2-mile - but not for long.  Photo Vic Sailer, Photorun.net
“I felt embarrassed and dumb once I remembered,” Fernandez admitted. “I hope he wasn’t offended because he was a great runner and a great source of inspiration to me. I just blanked out at that moment.”

Rather than have his head drift into the clouds, Fernandez had to return quickly back to Northern California, where his shift as a host at the neighborhood Applebee’s restaurant awaited

Fernandez returned to the track three weeks later for NON, with the goal of taking down Nelson’s longstanding mark. Edwards confided in mid-May that the California state meet was intended to serve as just a workout for NON, which was the big race. With thousands tuning in for live webcasts throughout the country, Fernandez and Co. put on quite a show in a thrilling two-mile blockbuster. The four pre-race favorites – Fernandez, Puskedra, Colby Lowe of Texas and Rob Finnerty of Minnesota – quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack, with Fernandez eventually pulling away on the strength of multiple mid-race surges.

“He was just too much for me,” Puskedra said later. “As soon as he’d make his move, it was like ‘Whoa! Where did that come from?’”

With the trackside intensity escalating by the lap, Fernandez was a picture of poise and fitness, purring around the oval and then kicking home in 8:34.40 – a new national record!

“That was just crazy. I really wanted to do it for my fans,” Fernandez said. “To be able to do it was just a dream come true.”

Considering going to Pre; considering going Pro

Shortly after Derrick’s amazing 13:55 win at Arcadia and Fernandez’s meteoric rise on the radar, interest grew from the early-June Prefontaine Classic meet to have those individuals, along with the red-hot Puskedra, take a stab at Nelson’s national record – a month before it actually fell.

When initially contacted about the opportunity to compete in a rabbitted world-class field in Eugene, Fernandez seemed excited at the prospects and said he’d be willing to race. Derrick also was in the process of being contacted, as was Puskedra. Derrick eventually contracted a season-ending bout of mononucleosis while Edwards nixed any definite plans for Prefontaine, saying there would be a “less than five percent chance” he’d let Fernandez do the two-mile as an all-out assault at Prefontaine, which was just one week after the California state meet.

 
German celebrates his national records at NON with coaches Johnny Vizcaino and Bruce Edwards.  Photo Vic Sailer, photorun.net
Making matters more difficult, meet management for the Prefontaine Classic wasn’t sealing up the offers, temporarily leaving some of the potential participants in limbo. Edwards eventually said Fernandez might be allowed to do Prefontaine, but only if it was for the mile race, rather than the two-mile. With the Prefontaine Classic men’s mile field being truly world class, word out of Eugene was that such an invitation would not be extended. After all, the cutoff to get into the Pre mile was clearly below 3:55. Puskedra ended up as the only one to take part, competing in the two-mile.

In the weeks to follow NON, the buzz around Fernandez grew and grew. By now, leading footwear companies were very interested in signing him to a professional contract, meaning that if he agreed, he’d have to forego his collegiate commitment to attend Oklahoma State in the fall.

One rumor floated from within the Fernandez camp was that a multi-year deal with a $250,000 annual figure had been offered. But various leading footwear companies contacted about the figure instantly scoffed at the amount, saying such a contract was too lucrative for credentials that amounted to roughly what top-end collegians could produce. Representatives from two of the companies, speaking on condition of anonymity, independently surmised that the figure likely originated from an agent trying to secure representation for Fernandez, with it being in their best interests to quote him a highball figure of what was possible.

Fernandez admitted that while the notion of turning pro initially was not a serious option to him, that began to change once the quoted figures began to rise (reps at three companies we contacted said the likely top-end amount for someone of his credentials would range anywhere from $50,000-$90,000 annually, with college tuition included as part of the value) and his dad offering his opinion.

“My dad said that was a lot of money and something to really consider,” Fernandez said. “He really wanted me to think it over before saying no too quickly.”

In the end, Fernandez decided to honor his commitment to Oklahoma State, where Coach Dave Smith has secured a superb recruiting class to join the nucleus of a team that took third at last year’s NCAA Division I Cross-Country Nationals.

“We’ve got a great team that can win it all,” said Fernandez, looking forward to his rookie season in college.


German's post-season honors also included the Gatorade Track and Field AOY award.  Photo from Gatorade, Tony Avelar
Finishing strides ...

It was during mid-July that we were granted a chance to visit Fernandez for an interview in Riverbank, with the opportunity providing a glimpse into the more personal side of a quickly evolving public figure.

Living in a well-kept, modern two-story home (and the cleanest room a teenager can possibly have!) in a nicer area of Riverbank, Fernandez gave a tour of the neighborhood – old and new – which revealed examples of some of the problems he might have encountered while growing up. He told of stories when road runs turned into the sad reality of a troubled community, where beer cans and bottles were often tossed his way from moving cars, which never gave the right of way to runners in the community.

Touring through streets revealed the graffiti and the vandalism, with one of the coaches confirming the dangers present throughout the area. While some of the locals were quick to criticize the area, Fernandez still regarded it as home – both the good and the bad.

Perhaps the most amazing thing is this: Surrounded by so much despair, this youngster has been able to keep his focus on his goals while doing the work it takes to achieve them, yet remaining humble while exercising total self-respect.

“German never missed a day of practice, (was the) hardest working guy on the team, and yet when practice was over, he was the funnest guy to be around,” said Vizcaino.

As special as he is on the track, he’s been raised perfectly by his parents and is a gem off the track as well.

Now he’s off to college, where a new environment, new teammates and a higher level of competition await. In some ways, the odds may be against him.

But then again, that’s when he’s at his best.



Year End Awards Index


DyeStat