Sean McGorty (born March 8, 1995) is an American runner who specializes in middle-distance and

long-distance Long distance or Long-distance may refer to: *Long-distance calling * Long-distance operator * Long-distance relationship * Long-distance train *Long-distance anchor pylon, see dead-end tower Footpaths * Long-distance trail *European long-d ...

events. He ran for the United States at the 2014 NACAC Cross Country Championships, where he won the junior men's race. He competed in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Cross Country and

Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Upon graduation, he joined the

Bowerman Track Club The Bowerman Track Club (BTC) is an American training group sponsored by Nike, Inc. for professional distance runners as well as a separate recreational club for casual runners. The professional team is supported by head coach Jerry Schumacher and ...

, which trained in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

until 2022 when the team moved to

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

Running career

High school

McGorty attended

Chantilly High School Chantilly High School is a public high school in the Chantilly CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system. History Chantilly was originally built in 1972 with open ...

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

. Before high school, he tried various sports, but ended up running cross country and track for his high school. In his freshman year of cross country, he recorded 16:26 in a 5K race. At the 2013

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012, there were ...

, he set the high school boy's mile meet record at 4:04.47.

Collegiate

On January 17, 2015, McGorty made his indoor track debut with Stanford at the University of Washington Indoor Preview, where he ran the mile in 3:59.34, becoming the first collegiate runner to run a sub-four minute mile in 2015. He placed seventh overall at the 2015 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships. On May 1, 2016, he fulfilled the Olympic standard in the men's 5000 meters with a personal record of 13:24.25, clinching a berth at the 2016 US Olympic Trials. At the 2018 NCAA Championships, McGorty won the men's 5,000 meter title with a time of 13:54.81, outkicking heavy favorite

Justyn Knight Justyn Knight (born 19 July 1996) is a Canadian long-distance track runner. A successful collegiate runner during his time at Syracuse University, he was the school's most-decorated distance runner in cross country and track. On the professiona ...

as well as the 2017 champion and Stanford teammate Grant Fisher.

Post-collegiate

On July 14, 2018, McGorty ran his first race in Europe at the ''Guldensporenmeeting'' in

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where he edged out Sammy Kirongo to win the men's 1500 meters with a new personal best time of 3:36.61. On August 3, 2018, McGorty placed seventh overall in the men's mile at the 2018 Sir Walter Miler, running 3:55.21. McGorty ran a 3000m PR of 7:37.47 on February 6, 2021 in Phoenix, AZ. At the 2020 US Olympic team trials, McGorty achieved some notoriety when he paused mid-race to put his shoe back on, but nevertheless qualified for the final

At the 2023 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, 2023 US Track and Field Nationals, McGorty finished 3rd in both the 5000m and 10,000m. USATF sends the top 3 in each event to the IAAF World Championships but at the time McGorty didn't have the world championship time standard in either event. However, a week later in

Heusden, Belgium Heusden was a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. In 1977 it merged with the municipality of Destelbergen, of which it is now part. It was mentioned for the first time in the 11th century, by abbot Othejbold. Years af ...

McGorty ran a 5000m race in 13:02.13 giving him the world championship standard for the 5000m.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGorty, Sean Living people 1995 births Sportspeople from Fairfax, Virginia American male middle-distance runners Stanford Cardinal men's track and field athletes Pan American Games competitors for the United States Stanford Cardinal men's cross country runners