Frisco Track Athlete Runs Inspiring 4th Place Finish

Legacy Christian Academy senior track athlete Grant Martinez trained for a year for the TAPPS 5A State Championship in Waco.

"It was just a really important race that I was looking forward to the whole year," Martinez said. "I have a love for running."

Marinez hoped for a first-place finish in the mile.

"We were optimistic that he would win the race," Legacy Christian Academy Head Track Coach Barrett Hardage said. "He was going into it with the best seeded time."

The May 6 race got off to a good start.

"I come out and I lead," Martinez said.

He was on a 4:12/mile pace when the unthinkable happened.

"My foot starts to feel a little loose in my shoe," Martinez said. "It flew off. And then, I was left running with just one shoe for about 2 1/2 laps."

That's more than half a mile running on a gritty track with one cleated shoe and one thin sock.

"I've never seen a shoe come off in 20 years of coaching track in the middle of a race," Hardage said. "You see that on YouTube and stuff. It's never happening in real life."

Video shows the crowd cheering Grant, seemingly unaware that his pace slowed because he lost one shoe.

"I was not gonna stop just because my foot was hurting," Martinez said. "I wanted to give it everything I had for everyone who came out."

"He's epitomizing what we want all our athletes to do and what we want them to learn, that you never stop," Hartage said. "It's the gutsiest thing I've seen an athlete do in 22 years of coaching."

Grant slipped from first to finish the race in 4th place but won the hearts of those who witnessed it.

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Martinez credits finishing to his faith and determination.

"It's how you pick yourself up and keep moving that gonna determine the future for you," Martinez said.

Martinez graduates from Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco on Saturday and will travel straight to New Braunfels for a meet to try to get that first-place finish. He plans to go to TCU in the fall, where he hopes to run track.