Jesse Fayant (2nd, West)

Jesse Fayant runs amidst the pack at the 2001 Foot Locker West Regional. (Photo by Brian J. Myers @PhotoRun, click to enlarge)

Hometown: Spokane, WA
High School: Mead High School
Year of Graduation: 2002

Jesse Fayant pulled off an upset in winning his first Washington State Cross Country title this fall. He began to pull away from strongly-favored Chris Lukezic of Auburn around the 2-1/2 mile mark and held him off for a two-second victory in 15:32. Lukezic returned the favor one week later as he won the Nike Border Clash (a 4.2k race between Washington and Oregon's best high school runners), with Fayant finishing back in seventh. Fayant got the final say in the matter, however, as he finished an impressive second at the Foot Locker West Regional, running 15:32 on the challenging Mt. SAC course. Lukezic unfortunately and surprisingly finished a non-qualifying 16th.

Other Notes:
...Has track PRs of 4:17 (1,600m), 8:30 (3,000m) and 9:16 (3,200m)... Has two brothers - Jason and Chris - that run for the University of Washington and another brother - Todd - who runs for Alabama... Is coached by the legendary Pat Tyson...

In the News:
Fayant second at Foot Locker West (12/2/01)
Finishes 7th at the Nike Border Clash
Fayant upsets nationally-ranked Lukezic at State Meet (11/4/01)
Fayant leads Mead to 11th state title in 14 years [results] (11/4/01)
Fayant beats Lukezic by two seconds (11/4/01)
Finishes 4th at Stanford Invitational in 15:51 (9/29/01)
Finishes 2nd at Mountain West Classic in Montana, running 15:03 for 3.0 miles (9/22/01)
Finishes 25th at the 2000 Nike Border Clash