“Anybody’s ideal race is a race when they can get in a race with guys that are all faster than them, sit in the back and get pulled through to a fast time. The ideal national race, definitely for me — it would be something where I can get out a little faster and use my strength at the end in the last 150 to 200 meters to come up and pull ahead at the end and win.”

That’s how senior track and field star Nate Brannen described his dream race for next weekend’s NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. At the meet, Brannen will be aiming to win his third consecutive 800-meter title, and, if the contest turns out the way Brannen described, he should be in line to complete the three-peat.

Brannen’s career has paralleled this ideal race, as he has been blessed with strong teammates that have helped to pull him through — one for a single year, another for the next three. And now he has reached the final stretch of his collegiate career, where he will rely on his speed and strength while trying to make history in Fayetteville, Ark. this Saturday.

The Road to Ann Arbor

With all the fancy recruiting visits and free meals that Michigan track and field coach Ron Warhurst gives out, you might be surprised to learn that he locked one of the greatest runners in Michigan history over the phone. With Warhurst’s innate ability to befriend almost everyone that he comes across, he quickly formed a bond with Brannen and sewed up one half of the fastest early commitment class that Michigan has ever seen.

“On the phone, I got along with (Warhurst) so well,” Brannen said. “I had never met him before and, just through phone conversations, he makes you feel like you are his best friend.”

After Warhurst had been so cordial, Brannen knew he couldn’t refuse the right to don the Maize and Blue singlet the next fall.

“I started thinking: ‘What coaches can I actually call up and tell them that I’m not going there?’ ” Brannen said. “Ron was the coach that, the whole time I was in the recruiting process, I was thinking ‘I don’t know if Michigan’s the place for me,’ so I was always looking around. But every time, I came to the same conclusion that, no, I couldn’t pick up the phone and call Ron and tell him that I wasn’t coming here.”

Brannen began making waves as a junior in high school, running for his club team in Cambridge, Ontario. He ran a 1:50 in the 800-meter run as an 11th grader, a mark that only a few high school runners manage to hit each year. Seeing that he had the potential to make an impact on the international track scene, Brannen decided to contact a Michigan alum and former associate coach — Canadian distance running hero Kevin Sullivan.

Sullivan was impressed with Brannen’s talent but also took note of his natural swagger.

“I think he had the confidence, not just the ability,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard to describe, but you can see a difference between someone with a lot of talent who will be inconsistent and a confident runner that will succeed every time.”

Brannen happily accepted Sullivan’s compliments, and decided to head down the path to international stardom that Sullivan had blazed — from Canada through Ann Arbor.

“Probably the primary factor that first got me interested in Michigan was Kevin Sullivan,” Brannen said. “Everybody in Canadian distance running knows who he is. He’s been a big factor in distance running in Ontario. Knowing he came here and the success that he had, I knew that this would definitely be a good place to go and follow in his footsteps.”

Webb of Intrigue

While Brannen’s credentials were staggering, he wasn’t drawing the bulk of the recruiting attention. Alan Webb, dubbed the next great American distance running hope, had announced his decision to join the Wolverines. Webb had become somewhat of a household name in America after major networks caught on to his chase of a 36-year-old high school record for the mile, held by Jim Ryun.

“We both signed early, which was in November,” Brannen said. “We talked on the phone probably two times before that and kind of both agreed that this was the place we were going to go, and so we signed.”