Young sprinter tearing up the track
NEED FOR SPEED: North Delta Seaquam’s Michael Aono is the fastest Canadian sprinter in his age category
Michael Aono picks up the telephone and over the course of a short chat, comes clean with a somewhat surprising admission.
“This is the first time anyone has ever interviewed me,” says the softspoken Grade 11 sprinter from North Delta’s Seaquam Secondary.
Well, if Aono’s star continues to rise the way it has since the start of the current outdoor track season, it’s something he’s going to get used to in a real hurry.
At the youth age division (16-17 years old), Aono has turned in the fastest times in Canada this season at 100 metres (10.79), 200 metres (21.45) and 400 metres (46.96). The latter time, clocked on April 25 at Western Washington University’s Ralph Vernaccia Invitational in Bellingham, is nothing less than the sixth-best time in the world this season for his age group.
To attain that time, Aono not only beat his nearest competition in Bellingham by more than two full seconds, the first nine guys he beat were all university-aged competitors.
Refreshingly unaffected by all of the acclaim being thrown his way these days, his main concern is that his coaches and fellow training partners are thanked for what he calls “a great atmosphere at the track.”
Mary Chewning, now into her third season of coaching Aono through the Vancouver Thunderbirds track club, will attest to the quieter parts of his personality, but she is quick to admit he has a mature demeanour that allows him to see a bigger picture with his training.
“He listens more than he talks,” says Chewning, “and he is extremely respectful. But I think he is also a tough kid, not a lot affects him. Even sub-maximal performances roll off his back.”
That’s another way of saying that he is training with the bigger picture in mind.
Dominating at the recent Fraser Valley high school championships without feeling the need to push for personal bests is accepted, knowing that the B.C. high school meet, the Harry Jerome and even the World Youth Games are his prime upcoming events.
“Not a lot of young athletes understand that you don’t try and peak at every meet,” Chewning says. “They feel they have to go out there and set new records every time. But Michael is very mature. He gets it.”
A torn hamstring early last season kept him out for about a month, but his return under Chewning’s watchful eye has resulted in what she sees as more efficient form on the track.
“We see a lot when they run in terms of biomechanical abnormalities,” Chewning continues. “(Michael) has since learned to run with efficient and proper biomechanics and I think that has catapulted his speed and his successes.”
Yet despite his times, Aono says early contact from university programs hasn’t started.
“I haven’t heard from anyone yet,” he says.
What event does he see being his specialty as his career progresses?
“I definitely favour the 400 metres,” Aono says, “but I really enjoy the 100 to see where my speed is at, and the 200 is lot of fun.”
Just which events he chooses to run at this season’s Subway B.C. high school championships June 4-6 at McLeod Athletic Park in Langley isn’t yet known.
But if Canada’s fastest high school sprinter is to make some history that day, he’ll have to bring down records which have remained untouched since the last century.
Burnaby-St. Thomas More’s Peter Ogilvie owns the 100-metre mark of 10.46 seconds set in 1990. Joel Nelson of Frank Hurt in Surrey set the 200-metre mark of 21.34 in 1997. Shane Niemi of Westsyde in Kamloops holds the 400-metre record of 46.8 seconds set in 1996.