With only a few steps remaining before the finish line, Oklahoma State’s Tom Farrell looked to his right, saw no one behind him and pointed to the sky believing that he had just won the Big 12 title for the men’s mile run.

What he did not realize was that on the inside of the lane, ISU senior Rico Loy had passed him in the final steps to claim the mile crown at the Big 12 Championships in College Station, Texas.

“He didn’t see me coming,” Loy said in a news release. “He looked to the outside and didn’t see anybody. He thought he had won. I thought to myself ‘no’ when he put his arm up.”

Loy ran a time of 4:06.33, edging Farrell by .14 seconds for his first-ever individual Big 12 title. He was the only champion for the Cyclone men as they placed ninth in the conference with 45 points.

Texas A&M won the team title with 154 points.

ISU assistant coach Travis Hartke said Loy’s performance was a great thing to see not just for Loy himself but for the rest of the team as well.

“It was pretty cool, he basically snuck into [first place],” Hartke said. “He was boxed in but kept going and trying. … It’s huge for our team and something we didn’t really expect. Rico knew that it was something he had a chance to do, and it was just a neat performance.”

Loy said he felt confident going into the race and knew he could be in the mix to win it.

“I knew if I was in position, I could run 200 meters faster than most of the guys in the race,” Loy said.

Hartke said Loy set a good example for the team with his performance.

“It just shows our team that you keep going and trying and just never give up,” Hartke said.