Afari La-Anyane was surprised Saturday when he advanced in the Central Coast Section 110-meter high hurdles semifinal, which is fitting since La-Anyane’s career has been one pleasant surprise after another.
Last year the Live Oak product held the second-fastest time in the state among freshmen, according to DyeStat, and was the only ninth-grader to qualify for the CCS preliminaries in the 110 hurdles.
Friday La-Anyane returns to Garcia-Elder Sports Complex in Gilroy as the lone sophomore entered in the championship heat, set for 6:50 p.m. He is a top-three finish away from the CIF State Championships.
“Things are looking up for him,” his coach, Cindy Armstrong, said Wednesday.
La-Anyane clocked a personal-record of 15.36 seconds Saturday that was good for second in his heat and seventh overall. The 16-year-old didn’t expect to advance, simply because his previous-best time (15.50), set during his second-place effort in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Finals on May 10, was the 15th-fastest mark in the section this year.
“I was expecting the best I’ll do is probably 10th,” said La-Anyane, the West Valley Division champion in the 110 and 300-intermediate hurdles. “But qualifying? That was exciting. It feels great.”
La-Anyane is the prototypical high school hurdler at a lean and muscular 6 feet, 2 inches with fast feet, great flexibility and a winning spirit. He began to blossom during the summer of 2010 while training with his father, Michael, who ran hurdles and sprints in high school and college.
“That’s pretty much where I got my lessons from,” La-Anyane said. “He gave me all the tips on strides and sprinting technique, getting my steps in.”
Michael, a native of Ghana, saw a natural hurdler in his son.
“He’s a fast runner, but he has the desire and the initiative – two things you need most,” Michael said.
“He doesn’t hesitate at all to take a hurdle, which is awesome,” Armstrong added. “He’s very strong and fast between the hurdles.”
In addition, La-Anyane is fearless when performing in front of big crowds, a skill he has honed in part through his other favorite hobby, theater.
“That’s probably helped me a lot,” he said. “I’m not as nervous as other people. I’m use to dealing with nerves.
“Whenever you hit a hurdle, your heart stops for a second – what just happened?. You don’t know how to react to it, but it’s really exciting. It just shows how much skill you need. A lot of people think, ‘I could never do that.’ They don’t see that once you get it, it’s really exciting. It’s just like any normal race.”
Balancing time between track and theater has been a challenge for La-Anyane this spring. He took on minor roles in the school plays – for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, La-Anyane donned a checkered red blazer, red pants and bright white shoes as the Candy Man – and dropped the 300 hurdles after the West Valley Division Finals.
“We just couldn’t get the endurance for the (300) with him,” Armstrong said. “But he’s got the speed from the weekends of training with his dad. … His technique is still great.”
Although limited in time for training, La-Anyane improved in the 110 hurdles in each of his last four meets, including his stunning performance last Saturday.
“I definitely didn’t think I’d make it this far, especially since I did all those plays,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d have the time to train and get this far, [thinking] ‘My season’s probably not going to go that great.’ I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would.”
La-Anyane is focused only on doing his best Friday. His seed time for the section final is well behind that of Prospect’s Kamara Biawogi, the favorite, but only three seconds within the third seed, Stephen Dorsey of Monterey.
Armstrong said La-Anyane has a good chance of placing in the top six if he PRs.
“That’s what we’re aiming for. That’s the biggest thing – to PR,” Armstrong said. “Get out there, relax and have fun. It’s his first time in the finals.
“The best thing about hurdles is anything can happen.”
Should he run the race of his life and catch a break today, La-Anyane could star in a new role: Cinderella.
“I’m not too confident about going to state or anything,” he said, “but I want to go up in the rankings. That’s pretty cool to be ranked where I am now. When I’m a senior, I’ll be up there.”
NOTES: The CCS Finals begin with field events at 4 p.m. Track events are scheduled to start at 6.
