Rylan Hainje blazing to records, named Marion County Male Athlete of Year
· Yahoo Sports
About an hour after watching his son run the 110-meter hurdles faster than any high school athlete, Rylan Hainje stood at the chain link fence at Greenfield-Central High School and shook his head.
It is hard fathom. Hainje called his son’s rise in the track and field world “magic.” Not that it did not come with work. His son, also named Rylan Hainje, has put in plenty. But to see this rise, from never playing sports to potential Olympian, does feel, well, a little magical.
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“I’m just so happy for him,” the elder Hainje said of his son, a senior at Franklin Central. “It’s great for him that he found something that he loves to do instead trying to follow in someone’s footsteps. He’s built his own legacy while being a humble, bright kid.”
Who knows what he will do next? Last week in the regional meet at Greenfield-Central, Hainje ran the 110-meter hurdles in 13.05 seconds in the preliminaries, a mark that would have been recognized as the best in history for a high school athlete, breaking the mark of 13.08 set by Wayne Davis of Raleigh, N.C., in 2009. However, there was not a wind reading at the meet, meaning it will not be recognized.
Which is a shame, because there was little wind. If any, it was not behind him – even it felt that way as he rocketed to the finish line.
“I think it was a headwind,” the younger Hainje said.
There is one more high school event for Hainje, who will compete at the state track meet on Saturday at North Central. He is the state leader in the 110 hurdles (13.24 seconds in the regional final), sixth in the 300 hurdles (38.06 seconds) and part of two relay teams. The 4x400-meter relay team closed the regional meet with a 3:13.54 mark that broke a 46-year-old state record of 3:13.66 set by Gary West Side. The 4x100 relay team has the fourth-best mark coming into state.
If the regional meet is any indication, Hainje is peaking at the right time. Before he gets to the track, he can add another honor to his name: Marion County Male Athlete of the Year.
Hainje was voted for the award by the Marion County Athletic Association, an honor that dates to 1950. Other finalists were Pike football and basketball player Muna Newman-Nwodika, Decatur Central football and basketball player Alec Surber and Lawrence North state champion wrestler Michael White.
Hainje is an anomaly in more ways than one. He only started running competitively two years ago. So, when his dad responds “never” when asked if he thought all this was possible for his son, he is speaking from a place of honesty.
“It probably kicked in for me a little bit more last year, especially during the indoor season,” he said. “Seeing his times drop from the year before to 7.66 (second in the 60-meter indoor hurdles) showed me what he could do. That’s when I was kind of looking like, ‘Let’s see what everybody else in the nation is doing,’ and it was just like, ‘Wow.’”
Hainje broke both state meet records in the hurdles’ events in completing the state title sweep last year, posting a time of 13.28 in the 110 hurdles and 35.82 in the 300 hurdles.
This season has been even more impressive. Before his 13.05 at the regional meet, Hainje posted a wind-aided 13.09 at the Marion County meet in mid-May. Wind or not, that is flying.
“I’ve worked really hard,” Hainje said. “I didn’t have as much time as some of these other kids, but I’ve always the passion to push myself further. I walk into the meets thinking, ‘Oh yeah, I got this,’ or ‘What do I have to lose?’ At the end of the day, I just want to be here for me and do what I can do to make myself better each and every day.”
Hainje did not follow in his dad’s footsteps. The elder Hainje was a star basketball player in high school at Cathedral and then in college at Butler, earning a spot in the Butler Athletic Hall of Fame by scoring 1,388 points during his four-year career from 1998-2002.
“He’s definitely one of the most humble kids I know,” Hainje said of his son. “He’s probably the complete opposite of me. I almost had an arrogance … I’d call it confidence in myself to go out there and do what I do. He has that confidence on the inside. He doesn’t really bring it out and express himself like that. He’ll go out there and let his game talk for itself. He’ll go out there and kick your butt and then come back and shake your hand. He’s just a great dude. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Hainje will be off to run next year at Marian University, an NAIA power coming off men’s and women’s indoor national titles. He could have gone Division I. But Hainje is used to taking the path less traveled.
“Coach Katie (Wise-Butler) is one of the greatest people I’ve ever talked to,” Hainje said. “I’m close with a lot of people there and just want to push myself even more.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.Get IndyStar's high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Franklin Central's Rylan Hainje Marion County Male Athlete of Year