When Dusty Fisher graduated from high school in Nevada, he figured with his quickness that he would be playing four years of special teams for the Broncos. However, with his lightning speed on the football field, he transitioned into track, so away went the helmets and shoulder pads, and out came the running shoes.
When he started with the men's track and field team, he didn't even know what blocks were, where to line up, or when to run. But he figured with his speed and talent, he could give it a shot.
"Football two years straight and i didn't get to play baseball any more since high school so i kinda needed something else in my brain athletically to transition to so I tried that out and it worked a lot better than I expected to,” said sprinter Dusty Fisher.
In an unattached race nearly two years ago, he went mostly unnoticed, but the numbers he produced made Boise State's assistant coach take a second look.
"And his time wasn't bad for someone who never has run track and he's just coming from football and it's very clear like you said he is a gifted athlete so we really didn't have to do much from a physical standpoint he's very strong, he’s very fast, it was mostly cleaning up his technique and teaching him how to accelerate properly and get out of the blocks, and those kinds of things,” said sprints coach Gavin O’Neal.
In his first season last year, he placed third and earned a medal finish in the 200 meter. He also helped the mile relay team to a third place finish in the Mountain West Outdoor Championships. Fisher also garnered All Mountain West honors in the 200 meter and 4x400 relay.
"Our training sets us up to be able to do something like that and compete with these guys that have been running track their whole life and there's even a kid that I beat during the indoor season after the 400 that he started crying and that was probably the best moment that I have had, sadly, but whatever way i can score the most points for my team is all that I care about,” said, Fisher.
The work has paid off this season as he snatched a fourth place finish in the 400 meter at the mountain west indoor track and field championships.
"The physical training that's gone into track, it helps set me up and helps get me a foundation that some of these other guys might not have had. I have had great coaches, whether it was football or high school, and to have that foundation of training to be able to build on that with the track specifics was pretty big,” said Fisher.
The sky's the limit for fisher. He will compete in the mountain west outdoor track and field championships in one weeks, so it's a mystery as to what records he could be running to next.
"He is gifted he's got a lot of natural speed we haven't tapped in what he can actually can do yet,” said, O’Neil.
Fisher says the change was the best decision he could make, and isn’t overlooking the chance that when his college career is over, he just might try for the Olympics. This past week at the Border Clash, Fisher won the 200 and 400, and his 200 time is the number two time in the conference.
