Hurdles First - Profiles

Click here for link to quotes section, originallly added 4/29/05, updated 4/8/09.

Thank You AJ (added 7/16/10)
Last week Allen Johnson announced his retirement from track and field. Arguably the best 110m high hurdler of all time, and definitely one of the greatest technicians of all time, Johnson will be greatly missed, as I’m sure that all fans of the hurdles have been inspired by him to one degree or another. . . . [more]

Kim Batten: A Woman with a Dream (added 6/30/09)
The year was 1995. The venue was Ullevi Stadium in Goteborg, Sweden. The event was the women’s 400m hurdle final. In lanes four and five, Americans Tonja Buford and Kim Batten were both running the race of their lives. They touched down off hurdle eight and headed down the homestretch. They matched each other stride for stride over the last two hurdles. Desperately they dashed for the finish line. Both leaned and crossed in what looked like a dead heat. The official photo revealed that Batten had won by a mere one-hundredth of a second. Both athletes had broken the previous world record. It was one of the most magical moments in the history of track and field. . . . [more]

Harold Sims: Getting His Weight Up (added 5/18/09)
Three summers ago a skinny kid about six feet tall with long, baggy shorts that looked more like a skirt came to the track asking me if he could train with the guys on my club team. He had just graduated from J.F. Webb high school in Oxford, NC and was looking to get his times down before entering college. I can’t promise any miracles, I told him, but you’re welcome to join us. Harold Sims worked hard that summer and got his 400 hurdle time down to the 55-low range, then took his talents to Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC, where he now shines as one of the top collegiate 400 hurdlers in the nation. . . . [more]

Booker Nunley: A Hurdler with a Heart (added 1/19/09)
Every now and then real life gets in the way of track and field. All the aspirations dreams and goals get put on hold for a while as we’re reminded that death is an integral, inescapable part of life. And we realize, quite ironically, that awareness of death is what gives life its depth and meaningfulness, and that it motivates us to live more authentically. This past fall one of my former athletes endured a scary ordeal that served that not only threatened his promising track career, but also his life. . . . [more]

Post-trials Interview with David Oliver (added 7/13/08)
David Oliver, winner of the men's 110 meter high hurdles at the US Olympic trials earlier this month, has been the best and most consistent American hurdler in 2008. He has run under 13.00 three times, including twice at the trials (both were wind-aided) and a legal 12.95 in Doha in early May. After that meet, Oliver was gracious enough to answer some interview questions I sent him via email , and he was gracious enough to do so again after the trials. The content of that interview is below. . . . [more]

****On 6/18/08, Jay Hicks, editor of Preracejitters.com, wrote a profile on me for his site. I thank Jay for the chance to talk about my site and my love of the hurdles. Click here to read the profile.****

Email Interview with David Oliver after his 12.95 in Doha (added 5/12/08)
After American 110 hurdler moved to a tie for 9th place on the all-time world list in that event, he answered some email questions that I sent him a few days later. The email interview is below. . . . [more]

We'll Miss You Ron (added 5/11/08)
May 4th, 2008 was a sad day for anyone who closely follows the 110 hurdles. On his blog website, American hurdler Ron Bramlett announced that he will no longer be running professionally due to stress fractures in both shins. Bramlett, a two-time NCAA champion who has been running professionally for six years, has been plagued with shin problems for the past year and a half, and the pain finally got to be too much. . . . [more]

A Discussion with David Oliver (added 2/29/08)
A week ago David Oliver won the men’s 60 meter hurdles at US Nationals in New York City. A week from now Oliver will be racing in Valencia, Spain to contend for the World Indoor Championship against the likes of China’s Liu Xiang, Cuba’s Dayron Robles, and fellow American Allen Johnson. In between those two meets David found time to talk with me over the phone about his US Nationals victory and a look ahead to the upcoming Indoor World Championships. . . . [more]

Good-bye Wilbur Ross (added 8/14/07)
On Friday August 10th, legendary hurdle guru Wilbur Ross passed away at the age of 80. Known primarily for the work he did while coaching Elias Gilbert and Fran Washington at Winston Salem Teachers College in the 1950s, Ross went on to work with many hurdling greats, including 1975 NCAA champion Larry Shipp, former world record holder Renaldo Nehemiah, three-time world champion Greg Foster, and 1992 Olympic silver-medalist Tony Dees. . . . [more]

Miki Barber: Keepin' it Movin' (added 6/28/07)
On June 28, 2007, I wrote a profile of sprinter Miki Barber for www.blackathlete.net. Miki, who lives and trains in the Raleigh area, near where I teach and coach, won the 2007 Pan-Am Games 100 meter dash with a personal best time of 11.02. I know she's not a hurdler, but the website here is Hurdles First, not Hurdles Only. Click here to read the profile.****

David Oliver: Cutting No Corners (added 4/26/07)
One of the rising stars among American 110m hurdlers is Howard University grad David Oliver, who currently trains in Orlando, Florida under the guidance of legendary track coach Brooks Johnson. Oliver, who graduated from Howard in 2004, has a career best of 13.20 that he ran in 2006. As of this writing, his most recent race was a 13.22 victory at the International Friendship and Freedom Games held at NC A&T University in Greensboro, NC on April 21st. Ranked 6th in the world in his specialty event in 2006, Oliver is looking to make a big splash in 2007. Shortly after his race in Greensboro, I had the chance to talk with Oliver about his athletic career and future goals. . . . [more]

Kevin Young: Always in the Trenches (added 4/8/07)
At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Kevin Young did what many believed to be impossible: not only did he break the 400m hurdle world record of 47.02 set by the great Edwin Moses nine years earlier, but he became the first man to break the 47.00 barrier in that event, earning himself a gold medal in the process. As of this writing, Young’s 46.78 still stands as the only sub-47.00 ever run. Recently I had a chance to talk over the phone with the two-time NCAA champion and 1993 World Champion about his track career and his views on many topics related to track & field. . . . [more]

Edwin Moses Interview (added 4/2/07)
On 3/31/07, I interviewed Edwin Moses for the Black Athlete Sports Network - another website for which I write free-lance articles. The interview was conducted on the eve of the Laureus World Sports Academy's annual awards ceremony, in which they honor the best athletes all over the world for their athletic accomplishments and their integrity of character. So the interview focuses primarily on the work he is doing now, but I did also ask a few questions about his hurdling career.

Ron Bramlett Interview (added 3/5/07)
At the 2007 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in February, 27-year-old Ron Bramlett won the men’s 60 meter high hurdles in a personal best time of 7.47, making him the third-fastest hurdler (with the fifth-fastest time) in the world this year. Only Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles have run faster. Recently I asked Ron a few questions about that race, his indoor season in general, and his prospects for the 2007 outdoor season. . . . [more]

Thanks A Lot, George (added 1/11/07)
About a year ago, while gathering research for the book I’m writing on Rodney Milburn, I was searching for any race footage of Milburn I could get my hands on. I almost gave up hope after months of inquiries into various leads that ended up falling through. But then one day while browsing through old track discussion boards on the internet, I came across a post from a man saying he had a lot of footage of old races. . . . [more]

Ron Bramlett: Getting It All Down on Film (added 2/23/06)
Once you get past “the big three” of Allen Johnson, Terrence Trammell, and Dominique Arnold, Ron Bramlett’s name is one of the first to come up when talking about the best high hurdlers in the United States. After winning two NCAA championships in 2001 and 2002, the 5’11”, 165 lb. Bramlett has gone on to become one of the top 110m hurdlers in the country, having been ranked among the top ten in the world in 2003, ’04, and ’05, and fifth in the nation in ’04 and ‘05. The University of Alabama grad who currently trains in Columbia, South Carolina recently took a break from his training in order to discuss his hurdling career up to this point, as well as his goals for the future. . . . [more]

Shelia Burrell: A Master of All Trades (added 2/19/06)
Developing the ability to negotiate ten barriers in a hurdle race is a daunting task unto itself, so just think how difficult it would be to master six additional technical events as well, and to compete in all seven events in the space of two days. Such is the challenge that heptathlete Shelia Burrell has faced for the past ten years. Burrell, who finished fourth at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, currently resides in Chula Vista, CA and trains at the nearby Olympic Training Center in San Diego. . . . [more]

Tonie Campbell: Love at First Flight (added 12/4/05)
Except for the immortal Willie Davenport, no American high hurdler has qualified for more Olympic Games than California native Tonie Campbell, who made the U.S. team in 1980, 1984, and 1988, with his best result being a bronze medal at the ’88 Games in Seoul, Korea, finishing behind fellow countryman Roger Kingdom and Britain’s Colin Jackson. The multi-talented Campbell, who has written screenplays, children’s books, dabbled in acting, and currently coaches at the junior college level and the elite level, was recently kind enough to give me more than an hour of his time to chat about his hurdling career and his insights regarding the sport of Track & Field. . . . [more]

Porscha Dobson: The Once and Future Hurdling Star (added 11/17/05)
Making the transition from high school to college often proves to be more difficult for some athletes than it does for others. Porscha Dobson, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, knows how difficult the transition can be. As a senior at Kent Place High School in northern New Jersey, Dobson’s 13.50 at the New Jersey Meet of Champions in 2003 made her the second-fastest high school female in the nation in the 100 meter hurdles, and the third-fastest in the history of the state of New Jersey. . . . [more]

Marcus Walker: Keeping the Community Together (added 10/12/05)
Sometimes, when the career of a promising athlete is cut short by injury, that athlete will spend years wallowing in regret and self-pity, wondering what might have been if life had not taken an unfair twist. Others, meanwhile, will choose to pick themselves up and do the best they can to make a difference in the lives of others. Marcus Walker, ranked second in the world in the 110 meter high hurdles in 1970, unquestionably falls into the latter category. . . . [more]

Mike Shine: No Shame in Second Place (added 9/14/05)
One of my earliest memories of the sport of Track & Field comes from when I was a little nine-year-old boy sitting in front of the television with my mom, dad, sister, and two brothers, watching the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. A young, high-haired Edwin Moses was coming off the second curve and into the final straight-away, on his way to his first Olympic gold medal and a new world record. We screamed with joy as Moses increased his lead, and then we noticed that, behind Moses, in one of the inside lanes, another American, Mike Shine of Penn State University, was pulling away from the rest of the pack to claim the silver medal, cementing a 1-2 finish for the U.S. in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles. . . . [more]

Beau Walker: Hurdling in her Father’s Footsteps (added 8/12/05)
While most hurdlers don’t get started hurdling until sometime in their high school years, there are those who get started a little earlier than that. One such athlete is Beau Walker, a recent graduate of the University of Alabama who still has one remaining year of collegiate eligibility. The 22-year-old Walker, who has been hurdling since she was eleven years old, holds the school record at Alabama in the 100 meter hurdles with a personal best of 12.96, and she also owns a personal best of 56.28 in the 400 meter hurdles. . . . [more]

Kasia Williams: Doing What She’s Gotta Do (added 5/1/05)
One of the top 100m hurdlers amongst collegiate female athlees is Kasia Williams, a senior at the University of Arkansas. Competing for a school known more for its distance runners and field-events stars, Williams has made a name for herself in her two years as a Razorback hurdler, having qualified for the NCAA Outdoor nationals last year, and having competed in the Jamaican Olympic Trials in 2004. . . . [more]

Laron Bennett: Time is on his Side (added 4/24/05)
One of the top 400m intermediate hurdlers in the USA today is Laron Bennett, a senior at the University of Georgia. In the 2004 outdoor season, Bennett set a school record at the East Regional meet in a time of 49.04, he finished fourth at the NCAA National Championships in a time of 49.99, and he finished 7th in the final round of the 2004 Olympic Trials at Sacramento State University in July. Bennett is off to a fast start in 2005 as well. . . . [more]

Jon Shaffer: A Middle-distance Hurdler (added 4/20/05)
While many 400m hurdlers double in the 110’s, open 400, or open 200, there also those who take more of a middle-distance approach by doubling in the open 800. One such athlete is Jon Shaffer, a junior at Marquette University in Wisconsin. Shaffer, whose personal best in the intermediates is 52.63, also has a 800m personal best of 1:49.21, which he ran this past indoor season at the Conference USA Indoor Championships in early March, making him the only runner in Marquette history to run under 1:50 in the 800. . . . [more]

Renaldo Nehemiah: Master of the Art Form (added 4/13/05)
When it comes to the men’s 110-meter high hurdles, all conversations begin and end with the same name: Renaldo Nehemiah. Though he no longer holds the world record, nor the American record, and though he never won an Olympic or World Championship gold medal, it still holds true that no other hurdler inspired the sense of awe that Nehemiah inspired. He is, was, and always will be, The Great One, The Master of the Art Form. . . . [more]

Andrea Mosher: A Special Kind of Person (added 4/11/05)
Of all the events in Track & Field, none are as daunting as the 400m hurdles, so only a person with extraordinary resolve and commitment has the mental toughness needed to endure the tough training sessions that this event requires in order to achieve any level of success. One athlete who possesses such resolve is Andrea Mosher, a junior at Illinois State University. Conference champion in 2004 in the MVC (Missouri Valley Conference) with a time of 1:00.02, Mosher, whose personal best is 58.39, has high hopes for the 2005 season as she comes back from a hip injury that slowed her progress in 2004. . . . [more]

Selim Nurudeen: Hurdles by Design (added 4/5/05)
As the 2005 outdoor season kicks into full gear, one name to look out for in the mens’ 110m hurdles is that of Selim Nurudeen, a senior at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Nurudeen, the Big East champion in the 110’s the past three years, has his sights set on higher goals in this, his last season of collegiate eligibility. Earlier this week I talked with Nurudeen about his hurdling past, present, and future. With a current personal best of 13.57, he is striving to make it to the next level of high-hurdling prominence. . . . [more]

Jean Poquette: Guide to the Great One (added 3/24/05)
There is no 110m high hurdler in the history of the event who inspires as much passionate, lively discussion as the legendary Renaldo Nehemiah, who is arguably the greatest 110-meter man who ever lived, and is definitely the standard-bearer of greatness in the event. One evening this past week, I had the pleasure of talking with Nehemiah’s high school coach, Jean Poquette. A veritable fountain of wisdom in all things pertaining to Track & Field, Poquette is known primarily in the hurdling community as the man who coached The Great One to greatness. . . . [more]

Lee Pantas: Building a Foundation (added 3/4/05)
Not very often does it occur that two 110m hurdlers from the same high school run under 14.00, but that’s what happened in 2003 at Asheville-Reynolds High School in Asheville, NC. In that year, senior Kris Fant and junior Cade Liverman ran personal bests of 13.86 and 13.87, respectively, in their regional championship meet. A few days ago, I had the good fortune of conversing with Lee Pantas, the coach of these two remarkable athletes. . . . [more]

Mark Piccolo: Efficiency is the Key (added 12/31/04)
Whenever hurdlers and hurdle coaches get together to talk about hurdling, there is a certain basic vocabulary that serves as the foundation of the conversation. Words such as “technique,” “rhythm,” and balance,” to name a few, constantly appear. Another word that perhaps does not come up as often as it should is “efficiency,” as hurdlers want to do what they do with more than just speed, power, and agility, as none of those qualities add up to much if a hurdler is not being efficient when it comes to stepping over the hurdle and getting back on the ground. Mark Piccolo, a twenty-one-year-old senior at Division II Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, is someone who has learned the value of efficiency throughout his career. . . . [more]

Nadine Faustin: She Keeps Coming Back (added 12/14/04)
In modern American society, the hurdling events in Track & Field have become a primary metaphor for the concept of overcoming obstacles, of falling and getting back up. To a hurdler, however, the need to overcome obstacles and to continually get back up no matter how many times one falls is a very real, concrete one, not just an abstract, romantic notion. One hurdler who embodies the spirit of the event in the way she has lived her life and continued on with her career is 28-year-old Nadine (pronounced ‘nah-deen') Faustin, a native of Long Island, NY whose greatest accomplishment in the sport thus far was the 12.74 she ran in the semi-final round of the 100m hurdles at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in August, 2004. . . . [more]

Ron Andrews: Dashing Through the Snow (added 12/8/04)
One of the top 110m high hurdlers in the USA is Ron Andrews, who also is the newly-hired sprint/hurdle coach at his alma mater, Kent State University in Ohio. Andrews finished 19th overall at the 2004 Olympic Trials at Sacramento State University with a 13.78, missing the semi-final round by a mere two-hundredths of a second. . . . [more]

Kevin Watson: Born to Hurdle (added 12/6/04)
Some athletes get involved in hurdling because they have good height, or because they lack raw sprinting speed, or at the suggestion of a coach who has too many people sprinting. Sometimes, though, athletes will get involved in hurdling because they were simply born to hurdle, because they were hurdlers before they even knew they were. Such is the case with Kevin Watson, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. . . . [more]

Reggie Towns: A Technique Hurdler (added 11/7/04)
In the collegiate ranks, there are certain schools that instantly come to mind when you think of the hurdling events. One such school would be the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. One of the most outstanding hurdlers to ever compete for Tennessee was Reggie Towns, who ran for the Volunteers from 1980 to 1983. While at Tennessee, Towns was a member of the shuttle-hurdle relay team that still holds the national record for that event, and he also finished second to Roger Kingdom in the 110m High Hurdles at the NCAA outdoor nationals in 1983. . . . [more]

Aaron Sink: Willing to Work Hard (added 10/17/04)
One of the best high school intermediate hurdlers to ever compete in the state of North Carolina was Aaron Sink, a 1998 graduate of Sanderson High School in Raleigh, NC. While at Sanderson, Sink won a 4A state championship in the 300m hurdles and pr’ed in a hand-timed 37.0, which is currently listed on ncpreptrack.net as the seventh best time ever in the state in that event. In the year he won states (1997), he was also listed among the top ten high school intermediate hurdlers in the country by the end of the spring season. He went on to compete for Georgia Tech University, where he starred in the 400m hurdles and was also an integral member of their 4x400m relay team that achieved All-American status at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2000. . . . [more]

Aaron McDougal: A Profile in Dedication (added 9/16/04)
When I first moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1994, one of the first people I met was Aaron McDougal, who was one of the coaches for the Carolina Eagles – a local age-group track club. Coach McDougal and I formed an instant friendship based on our mutual love of the hurdles, and we have remained good friends ever since. . . . [more]