Today’s post is a good one and with an athlete I’ve known since he was probably knee-high, literally. Ryan Wilson is a Columbus born athlete who captured the silver medal last year in the 110M hurdles at the Track and Field World Championships in Moscow. Click here to watch an interview right after his race.
I contacted Ryan to see if he would discuss his sports history and how he developed into this great hurdler. He was happy to oblige. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do and we’ll have part 2 of this interview next week.
AK: Give us a brief introduction of who you are and what you are currently doing.
RW: I’m Ryan Wilson and I run the 110meter hurdles professionally for Mizuno. I also coach two professional track runners and volunteer coach at the University of Southern California.
AK: What sport(s) did you play in high school and where did you go to high school?
RW: I graduated from Westerville North HS in Ohio and I played soccer, basketball, and track.
AK: Give us a little description about your high school playing days. When did you start playing? Did you have to choose just one sport to focus on? What grade were you playing significant minutes on the varsity squad? Anything else that describes it.
RW: I was fortunate to be a part of some great HS sports teams and was able to play significant minutes from my Freshman year on. I was leading scorer for one state champion soccer team, and one state semi-finalist team. And was one of the leading scorers and another state runner-up team. My track teams were very good all four years of high school. I think we never finished worse than 5th and we were State Runner-Ups once and co-Champs another time
AK: At the high school level, what extra training did you do? Lifting, private lessons, conditioning either with a private coach or your team.
RW: I never did anything extra, and I barely lifted weights.
AK: What was the process for you to get looked at by college coaches? Did your high school coach help? Was it primarily things you did on your own (contacting colleges)? Or were you just that good that they were contacting you and knew how to find you?
RW: Fortunately, I was good enough that about every Division I school in the country contacted me. I didn’t have any help, nor was it necessary. I had my choice of programs.
AK: What was your favorite moment of your high school athletic career?
RW: Winning the State Championship in my very first season of high school with the soccer team. We worked hard, had fun, and were the definition of a team.
AK: What accolades or awards did you win/earn for your high school athletic career?
RW: I was All-Ohio, an All-American, and All-OCC, numerous times. I was Ohio Gatorade athlete of the year in 1998, and Gatorade Regional athlete of the year in 1999.
AK: If you had to do it all over again, what things would you do differently (if any) to have the best high school athletic career possible?
RW: I would have played football my junior and senior years.
AK: Knowing what you know now, how would you go about the college recruiting process differently (if anything)? There are all sorts of tryouts, camps, and showcases for athletes these days, do you think they help, would you do more, less, none? Or would you have prepared yourself to do better athletically to showcase your talent during games?
RW: I don’t think there’s any better arena to showcase your talent then in a game. I personally wouldn’t have done anything differently, but track is the type of sport where numbers don’t lie.
AK: As you transitioned from high school to college sports what did you do to prepare yourself for the next level? Looking back do you think there is anything you would have done differently?
RW: I didn’t do anything to prepare myself for the next level. I just went to school and listened to my coaches. It wasn’t my job to coach myself.
AK: What were some of the differences between high school and college athletics that you noticed? Some that were tough to adapt to? Etc.
RW: There was a bigger emphasis on lifting weights, which I expected and welcomed. I started to specialize in my very best events. There wasn’t anything I found difficult to adapt to, because I was well prepared for the next level.
AK: What were some of the highs and lows of your athletic career in college? Favorite moment?
RW: I only really had two lows: Conference championships my sophomore year where I felt I underachieved. And the USC-UCLA [Ryan attended USC] dual meet my junior year which was the only time I lost the 110 hurdles against our rival. Getting 3rd at nationals my sophomore year and 1st my senior year were definite highs. Along with winning both hurdle races my senior year at our home track with two personal bests. Another big moment was being on the team that broke a 17 (or something like that) year losing streak to UCLA.
AK: At a college, I’m assuming you did a lot of strength training and conditioning with coaches. How often was that? Off-season, pre-season, in-season. Was it basically year-round and they just changed the intensity depending on where you were during the season? Any breaks.
RW: We lifted weights four days a week all year, but honestly I don’t remember much in the way of details. I just went in and followed directions without much thinking about it. I’m sure the intensity tapered off towards the end of the year.
AK: How prepared were you for the lifting that they had you do going into your freshman year?
RW: I was bringing my body and an open mind, so I was prepared enough, but if you are speaking on experience, I guess I wasn’t prepared at all. Everything was new.
AK: High school athletics is a different kind of fun and if you are good enough the game seems rather easy to you. How was college different if anything? Same type of camaraderie? Tougher to shine? All business?
RW: We definitely had a similar type of camaraderie and I spent more time with my teammates in college than in high school. Collegiate athletics is mostly different because you go back to the bottom of the totem pole and have to work your way up. For some people that is harder than for others. I think there is more pressure to perform at the collegiate level as well because the University has invested in you to perform at a certain level and coaches have invested time and recruiting in you.
A great first part to the interview. What I found to be interesting was how some of his favorite moments in high school sports had nothing to do with his track accomplishments. Maybe some of you athletes that want to specialize should take notice. Next week, we’ll talk about his professional career and what really separates these great athletes. And it’s not what you think…or maybe it is.
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