June 15, 2021
There was a time, long before national championships and the Olympics, that Mason Ferlic had to be coaxed into running. Ferlic, among MPA’s most decorated athletes of all-time and one of the most accomplished distance runners in Minnesota history, grew up a soccer player. It wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he truly focused on cross country running and track and field. When he did, it was lights out for the competition.
Ferlic’s meteoric rise from just a ‘scared sophomore’, as he puts it, wasn’t without guidance. A four time Minnesota class A state champion (cross country, 3200m twice and 1600m), Ferlic attributes his success to coaching. “My coaches Bev Docherty and Dan Ethier were both instrumental in my development and progression. They believed in my potential and helped uncover my unknown talent. I wouldn’t be the athlete and person I am today without MPA athletics and the doors it has opened for me,” he said. “MPA athletics teaches dedication, balance, goal setting, and teamwork, all valuable life lessons.”
Ferlic, the 2011 Minnesota Gatorade Track and Field Athlete of the Year, holds MPA’s school record in the 5K in cross country running and in the 800m, 1600m an 3200m in track and field. But it was more than his athletic achievements that turned heads. Ferlic was a four year honor roll awardee, earned academic all-state honors, four academic varsity letters and was inducted into the National Honor Society. Seeking an environment to further pursue both his academic and athletic passion, Ferlic chose to run collegiately at the University of Michigan.
As a collegian running for the Wolverines, Ferlic’s career accelerated. He was a five time Big Ten conference champion, five time all-American, the Michigan men’s athlete of the year, and a recipient of the Big Ten medal of honor, the conference’s highest honor.
Ferlic capped his stellar career as a Wolverine with a fantastic summer in 2016. In June, he became the first Michigan runner in 32 years to win the NCAA championship in the 3000m steeplechase, destroying the field by a wide margin and winning Michigan’s first NCAA track and field champion since 2007. Less than a month later, he finished fifth in the Steeplechase at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, coming within four seconds of qualifying for the 2016 USA Olympic team. Later that summer, Ferlic signed a professional contract with Nike and signed on with Michigan’s cross country team as an assistant coach.
Ferlic decided to continue his track and field career with the goal of representing the United States in international competitions, “I feel like I’m young. I feel like I’m undeveloped,” the former Panthers star said. “My time will come.” Since winning the NCAA championship in 2016, Ferlic has been competing on the professional track and field circuit around the world and training for future competitions. He broke the coveted four minute mark in the mile and came into the 2021 Olympic trials with one of the top times in the world in the 3000m steeplechase.
On June 25, 2021, Ferlic finished third in the steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic trials, achieving his goal of representing the United States in the Tokyo Olympics, becoming MPA’s first ever Olympian! Mason represented the United States, competing on July 30, 2021 in the preliminary heats of the 3000m Steeplechase. He finished 21st in his first Olympic games, running 8:20.23
No matter what happens with his future in athletics, Ferlic can always fall back on his master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Michigan’s college of engineering, a nationally ranked program, and the PhD he’s pursuing in statistics. A four time academic all-American at Michigan, Ferlic hopes to be “at the intersection of business and technology” by pursuing a career in aerospace entrepreneurship.
Much has changed since the lanky sophomore switched from soccer and basketball to cross country running and track and field. “It’s weird,” notes Ferlic. “When I first started I was the kid who really didn’t like to run. Now I live by running. Now I want to go get it.”
