Mike Wray hurdling his way to top

Roger Kingdom is widely considered the best track and field athlete ever to graduate from… Roger Kingdom is widely considered the best track and field athlete ever to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh. After winning two NCAA Division I championships in the hurdles, Kingdom went on to Olympic glory by taking home the gold medal in both the 110-meter hurdles in 1984 and 1988. Since then, Pitt has been blessed with a number of talented track and field athletes, yet no one has come close to matching Kingdom’s greatness – until now.

Pitt is home to track and field’s fastest rising star and the nation’s top 60-meter hurdler. Although it is a bit premature to rank him alongside Kingdom, Mike Wray is beginning to command some serious respect.

Wray, a junior out of Central High School in Philadelphia, currently holds the fastest time in the NCAA and recently won his second consecutive Big East indoor title in the 60-meter hurdles. He broke the school record earlier this season in that event, bringing down the previous time of 7.74 seconds set by Kingdom in 1983. At the time, Wray’s current mark of 7.16 would have been the fifth-best in the world.

These performances were not unprecedented, however. In high school, he was the 2004 Public League Champion in the 110-meter hurdles and state champion in the 60-meter hurdles while being named a Nike Indoor All-American. Nevertheless, he was not highly recruited.

“I think one of the reasons was because he wasn’t very consistent and was hurt a lot near the end of his career,” Pitt head coach Alonzo Webb suggested. “I liked his size and athletic ability and saw that he had the potential to be something special.”

Webb has a reputation for finding diamond-in-the-rough athletes like Wray, and despite the fact that other major programs passed him over, Webb offered him a scholarship. Impressed by the coaching staff and Pitt’s superb academic reputation, Wray became a Panther.

Inspired by his younger brother who suffers from a form of social autism, Wray decided to major in psychology so that he could better understand and help his younger sibling. Wray hopes to utilize that psychology degree in his future career as well, possibly in the field of counseling or coaching athletes like himself.

Since he has so often been surrounded by athletics, he feels as if he could make the most impact assisting athletes because of his personal experiences. Yet, in the few free moments he has outside of the classroom and track, Wray does what any other college guy likes to do – work on his Madden game and watch ESPN.

“I don’t have much free time, so when it comes, me and my friends like to have Madden tournaments,” Wray said. “I’m also a huge sports fan and watch ESPN religiously.”

Earlier in his career, Wray also partied a lot like many other students, except there was one problem – he was not a typical student. Being a student-athlete requires much sacrifice, including having a limited social life, something difficult for Wray to accept at first.

“I don’t want to say this, but Mike was a little bit lazy when he came to Pitt,” Webb said. “He was not ready for all of the necessary training and never liked the weight room and still doesn’t, but he’s learning that if he wants to be the best, he has to continue to improve his work ethic.”

Even after rededicating himself to track, Wray still didn’t feel like he was progressing fast enough in his first two years at Pitt. Then all of a sudden, he went from being average to being a national star. Prior to this year, Wray had never even provisionally qualified for the national championships, yet in this, his break-out year, he has met the automatic qualifying time in every race in which he has run.

“There’s no logical reason why I shouldn’t make the NCAA finals and finish an All-American, but I never have run at this level before, so I don’t really know what to expect,” he said.

So what caused such a turn-around? According to Wray, it was a number of factors, but above all, a complete dedication to the sport.

“I have gone out less and trained much harder,” he said. “I had to make a decision of what’s more important – my college social life or taking my game to the next level.”

In addition to dedicating himself to the sport, Wray also decided to re-evaluate his life in general.

“Having faith has reassured me and has allowed me to not sweat the small stuff but to trust in God,” Wray stated. “I can now focus and go out there and do what I was blessed to do. All of these things are happening for a reason.”

Additionally, he credits his success to Webb.

“Coach [Webb] has so much experience in life and on the track, and I have learned a lot about both from him,” he said. “When I didn’t have much faith in myself, he instilled more in me. He likes to tell me, ‘Don’t squander this opportunity -you have the talent to be a national champion.’ That confidence means a lot.”

Webb agreed that an improved work ethic has a lot to do with his success but offered additional opinions as to why he believes Wray has dominated this season.

“Trust was a big thing,” Webb said. “He had to learn to trust that I knew what was best for him even though I was having him do completely different things than he was used to. He wants to be good and knows he has the ability, but sometimes he needs to be convinced just how good he is.”

Webb points to last year’s NCAA Outdoor National Championships as the turning point in Wray’s career.

“Going to nationals last year and being around so many determined, good athletes was the motivation he needed to get better and improve his attitude going into this year.”

If Wray captures the NCAA championship this year and continues to improve, competing in the Olympics is not out of the question. Even still, he admits he has a lot to accomplish before he can even begin to think about that.

Some of the goals he has set for himself include winning the indoor and outdoor national championships in the hurdles, earning All-America status and claiming Pitt’s outdoor hurdles record (he already owns the indoor one). When asked about the upcoming Summer Olympics, he responded modestly.

“I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself. This summer, coach and I will talk about how to best approach training for the Olympic trials as well as for Pitt. I would like to compete in the trials, but 2008 may be too early. I don’t think I’m ready to compete at that level yet, but we’ll see.”

Webb’s comments about his star pupil sounded similar.

“I can see him as an indoor and outdoor national champion before he is done at Pitt. He should also hold all of the school and Big East Conference records in the short hurdle events, and although I expect him to compete in Olympic trials, I’m not sure from there.”

So while it may be a bit premature to book tickets for Beijing with the hopes of seeing Wray compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics, it’s not completely out of the question. With his size, speed and natural ability, the sky is the limit for Wray, as it was for Roger Kingdom in the 1980s.