From the sports archives: San Mateo hurdler Jesse Wong a quick learner

It was then, after being a distance runner on the Bearcats' track and field team for the majority of his career, that Wong decided to try his hand at the hurdles.

That move didn't go very well.

"I almost killed myself," Wong said.

But despite the near-death experience, the senior decided to put in the time mastering the art.

"(I said) If you're serious about this, I'll teach you how to hurdle," recalls San Mateo head coach Ed Riley. "Normally, it takes about two years to get real good flexibility and proficiency in the hurdles. He's the one that put the time in. He worked at it, and bam, here we are."

By "bam" Riley is referring to Wong and his performance at the Peninsula Athletic League championships last week. Despite his lack of experience, Wong captured the 110-meter hurdles in exciting fashion. Minutes later, he took home gold in the 300-meter hurdles rather easily. Oh yeah, then he topped off his afternoon at the College of San Mateo by picking up a bronze medal in the triple jump.

"Jesse is an anomaly," Riley said. "This comes from a person that has hurdled for 18 years, and usually I can recognize hurdlers when I see them -- although Jesse is tall, lanky, and he's got that flexibility, he really started off as a distance runner. (But) he's a quick learner, that's one thing I have to say about Jesse, he's a quick learner."

Apparently, he's quick enough to pick up a difficult skill and master it to a championship level. Wong said his original intent when arriving on the San Mateo campus was to be a sprinter. Unfortunately, the speed wasn't quite there and he was moved into the long distances. But there was something about the sprint that always attracted him. One day, just playing around at practice, Wong started jumping hurdles. The rest they say, is history.

Wong began his afternoon at the PAL championships with his toughest challenge.

"To be completely honest, I did not think I was going to win the 110s," Wong said. "I wasn't really convinced, I thought I had a shot but, with the 300 hurdles I was a little more confident in myself. I think that (the 110-meter hurdles) was the hardest event. There was a lot of great competition."

"We didn't pick him to win the highs because there are a couple of good hurdlers in the league -- (Will) Langi, (Daniel) Hirsch -- [who] had better times," Riley said. "But even those two guys didn't hurdle as well as Jesse. I thought they might beat him on sheer speed. But it didn't turn out that way."

No it didn't. Wong's race was cleaner, more technically sound, than the faster competitors and was good for a time of 15.91 and the gold.

Wong took the momentum from the surprising win over to the 300-meter hurdles and ran a smooth race. His time of 41.16 was almost a second better than his teammate, Larry Campbell as San Mateo went 1-2 in that event.

"A good 40 percent (of hurdles) is mental because you have to stay focused in the hurdles all the time," Riley said. "You have to stay focused from beginning to end, no matter what happens around you. There is a certain rhythm that you establish. Once you establish that rhythm, you take it all the way through come hell or high water."

For Wong, the focus was in rewarding those who have influenced him the most in his high school career.

"(The meet was) a culmination of just a lot of hard work," Wong said. "And, I really enjoyed sports at San Mateo and my coaches have always been there for me so (winning) was kind of something I could do for them."

"He's a delight," Riley said of Wong. "He's all about team. I've been very fortunate here in San Mateo that they kids I get to coach here, they seem to work together. It doesn't matter what their abilities are. Jesse is a total team leader."