Hyams Qualifies for State Meet—Signs Letter of Intent at UC Irvine
By Michael Burkholder
5/24/08

Samuel Hyams has come a long way in a little over a year. Last year, qualifying for the state meet seemed like a pipe dream until he altered his workouts and dedicated himself to a year-round training schedule as well additional training outside of his high school team with Athenian Athletics. It all paid off in the end as he qualified for the state meet in the boys 1,600-m run on Saturday May 24.

Hyams ran a 4:16.04 which placed him third in the event and breaking his own Foothill High School record.

“I don’t think he is done with breaking records and going down in times. We still have two more meets to lower his time which is where his head is at and not on a record since he already has it,” said Coach Rik Richardson.

Nathanael Litwiller, Junior, of Clayton Valley HS won the event with a time of 4:14.99 and Dmitry Kislyuk of California HS placed second with a time of 4:15.99. Teammate Matthew Yankowski did not advance with a time of 4:22.59 while placing 7th--which was a personal best. However, with Yankowski only being a junior, making the finals at NCS will give him the experience he needs to become an even better runner next season and become a contender as a state champion.

“It’s a huge confidence lift. It shows training and a strict schedule of how to run and eat that it goes a long way and pays off. With a strong mindset, it’s just a huge confident factor,” said Samuel Hyams.

For Hyams, he continued to improve his time over the last year in which his personal best was 4:38.00 entering the season. In fact, after his sophomore year, he was thinking about becoming a long jumper because he wasn't as fast as he needed to be to compete. Coach Richardson found out he had stamina and started to practice as a distance runner and running races.

“Coach Richardson has been awesome. What he did was take my training to the next level. He started training me on a college level and put me on a controlled diet. It was all laid out strategically and raised the bar over what any high school coach would usually do. At first, it was very hard. It forced me to run lots of mileage on weekends and change my diet. But after a while I got used to it and it became a way of life and daily routine and wasn’t that hard anymore. He really laid out the schedule where it became easy to add to it. There was definitely a learning curve,” explained Hyams.

During the preliminaries, five boys ran in the 4.22’s where Hyams placed third while running a 4:22.83. Roy McLeod won the prelims with a time of 4.22.26.

It also was a special weekend for Hyams because not only did he qualify for the state meet; he also signed his letter of intent to run at UC-Irvine on an athletic scholarship.

“It’s awesome. A year ago, I would be dumbfounded and you would have to slap me into believing any school would want me to run for them. It’s awesome now looking back at where I was and where I am headed. I am very excited to be going to UC Irvine. Coach Vince O'Boyle is an awesome coach down there and they are young. So it’s just pretty exciting,” said Hyams.

Coach Richardson main goal over the past two seasons was to help put Hyams get into position to get a scholarship and run at the next level.

It has been a hell off climb considering last season he didn’t even make it out of the league meet. He should be proud for all he has worked for over the past year considering he lowered his personal best by 25 seconds and earned himself an athletic scholarship,” said Coach Richardson.

Going into the state meet, Hyams is ranked 8th in the state and will look to improve on that going forward.

“The aim for state is 4:13.00 and we will see what happens there. I have the confidence that I can run a lot faster now. Confidence is huge and that’s what has helped me out and keep improving and fixing little things here and there,” said Hyams.