De La Salle High School star and 8th place finisher at the 2013 Footlocker Cross-Country National Championship Blair Hurlock has verbally committed to run at Stanford University. His final decision comes after narrowing down his short list to Colorado, Wisconsin, Princeton and Stanford before choosing to join Chris Miltenberg’s squad in Palo Alto. 

"Overall, I felt that Stanford was exactly what I was looking for in a school," Hurlock told Flotrack shortly after announcing his decision. "Coach Miltenberg and Coach Oliver are more than capable of developing me into the athlete that I aspire to become, and the guys on the team will allow me to become better each day. The decision was an incredibly difficult one, but I know I've made the right choice."

Hurlock was fourth at the CIF State Cross Country Championship, where he ran a season’s best of 15:11 for 5,000-meters. He finished fifth at the 2013 Stanford Cross-Country Invitational. 

He spoke with California Milesplit site head and Flotrack’s Kevin Selby about what he was looking for in a college back in December. 

Hurlock joins a recruiting class at Stanford that already includes Patrick Perrier of O’Fallon High School (Ill.) and Steven Fahy of La Costa Canyon High School (Cal.) Perrier finished third at the 3A State Cross-Country Championships and fourth at the Footlocker Midwest Regional as a junior. Fahy is coming off a cross-country season in which he was sixth at the CIF Division II State Cross-Country Championship. He was third at the Stanford Cross-Country Invitational. 

Stanford is coming off a cross-country season in which the Cardinal finished 19th at the NCAA DI Cross-Country National Championship. 2014 could be a big year for Miltenberg’s squad as Jim Rosa and Sean McGorty are expected to be the faces of the team after a breakout year. 2012 Nike Cross-Country National Champion Sam Wharton will also be a contributor after redshirting the 2013 season. 

Hurlock already has his own Workout Wednesday on Flotrack leading up to his race at Footlocker Cross-Country Nationals.