When Micah Harris stepped into the blocks at the USA Track and Field Championships in June at Hayward Field, he looked over to the next lane and saw hurdling legend Allen Johnson. Until that moment, Johnson had been merely another poster on Harris’ wall.
The two raced, and Harris missed making the semifinals by 0.11 seconds, while Johnson went on to win the meet and the gold medal at the World Championships.
Then, earlier this year, the two met again at a meet in Nebraska.
“Micah, why does that name sound familiar?” Johnson asked.
“Yeah, I was next to you at the USA Championships,” Harris answered.
“OK, yeah, I recognize you. You’re pretty good, huh?”
“Just trying to reach your status.”
Since that meeting, Harris has been getting closer and closer to Johnson’s level as a world-class hurdler. The Oregon senior, fueled by competition with top-flight athletes this season, broke his own school record in the 110-meter hurdles at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays last month and now has his sights set on the Pacific-10 Conference Championships and the NCAA Championships beyond.
He holds the Oregon record in the 110 hurdles.
“Micah likes to compete against the best,” fellow Oregon hurdler Terry Ellis said. “When we go to big meets, there’s no doubt he’s going to step up.”
Harris proved he’s a big-meet athlete by setting the Oregon school record at the NCAA Championships last spring. In front of thousands of raucous fans at Hayward Field, Harris surprised the crowd by making the semifinals with his school-record run of 13.73 seconds.
At a big meet earlier this season, Harris set the school record again in the Olympic Development Section of the 110 hurdles at Mt. SAC, this time running the race in 13.67 seconds.
“After you’ve competed at the top, with the top, you want to make sure you get back,” Harris said. “That’s the whole point of being out here, to compete with the best, so you can be at your best.”
Harris will sit out this weekend’s Oregon Twilight meet at Hayward Field to prepare for the Pac-10 Championships on May 18. Harris is ranked second in the Pac-10 behind Southern California’s Ryan Wilson, but said he won’t settle for second at the conference meet this year.
“I was Pac-10 runner up last year,” Harris said. “I want to move up a slot.”
After that, Harris will travel to Baton Rouge, La., for the NCAA Championships on May 29. His time is currently ninth in the country and an NCAA automatic qualifier.
“He elevates to the level of his competition, which will be high at the NCAAs,” sprinter Samie Parker said. “I think he has what it takes to finish at the top of the list.”
Parker is part of the 4×100 relay team that Harris runs on. Harris also runs for the 4×400 squad. The 4×100 team has been steadily decreasing its times over the course of the season, and will head to the Pac-10 Championships with high hopes for an NCAA time.
Ellis said that while the relays might appear to be bad for a person running a sprint, they actually help to loosen Harris for his hurdling.
“It gives him a chance to get warmer, and pumps him up for his next event,” Ellis said.
Harris, a Tempe, Ariz., native who came to Oregon from Central Arizona Community College, said that the Oregon track experience has taught him many life lessons, not just how to be a member of a 4×100 relay team.
“It’s more than just hurdles out here for me,” Harris said. “It’s a combination of all the people, everything. That’s what makes it fun to be out here.”
And if Harris keeps up his big-meet reputation, he could soon be passing even Allen Johnson — on the track and in legendary stature.
E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday
at [email protected].