LYNNWOOD — In his senior year at Meadowdale High School, hurdler Christapherson Grant was looking for a track and field season with no frustrations, no disappointments and no bad breaks.
He got all of those on one fateful afternoon — and that last one literally.
At the Larry Eason Invitational in Snohomish on April 18, Grant was running in the 300-meter intermediate hurdle final. He was in second place as he reached the home stretch, trailing Aiden Basco of Mount Rainier High School by a few strides but also gaining ground.
And then disaster.
In his bid to overtake Basco, Grant went to a desperate sprint, which caused him to lose his even stride. He ended up too close to the next-to-last hurdle as he started to leap and his foot caught the underside of the top board, which sent him sprawling.
He tried to break his fall by extending his right hand, but what broke instead was his collarbone as he tumbled to the track. And it was no mere hairline crack either. The bone had snapped, leaving two pieces with jagged ends barely touching.
The next day a doctor told Grant he would be out 6-8 weeks, meaning he would miss the rest of the season, including the upcoming state championships. And at that point, Grant said ruefully, “it was like, ‘Good-bye dreams.’”
But with the same determination that has helped him become one of the state’s top track athletes, Grant vowed to return. He avoided pain pills after being told they would slow his healing. And despite having his right arm in a restrictive sling, he tried to stay in shape by regularly riding a stationary bicycle.
On May 13, less than a month after his injury, he got a reluctant OK from his doctor to resume running. That same night he ran in Western Conference 3A South qualifying races in both the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles, and two nights later he won league championships in both races.
Last Friday night Grant qualified for state by winning district titles in the same two races. His intermediate hurdles time of 38.40 at the district meet is the state’s top 3A mark this season, while his time of 14.06 in the high hurdles from a dual meet in March is the state’s top time for all classes.
Grant’s accomplishments this season are remarkable, not only because of his injury, but also because of where he started three years ago. As a freshman he finished well back in varsity races. He progressed enough to qualify for state in the high hurdles as a sophomore and junior, but failed both times to qualify for finals.
Particularly in his junior season, Grant had much higher hopes for the state meet. “But I choked so bad and it was really disappointing,” he said.
So last summer Grant began a rigorous training regimen, both in the weight room and on the track.
“I didn’t want my senior year to be a bust,” he explained. “I didn’t want to be saying, ‘Oh, I should done (more work) during the summer.’ I wanted to give as much effort as I could. And I was really hard on myself because I realized the day you take off (someone else) is going to get faster. So no matter how sore I was that day, I pushed through it.
“If you want to get anything, you have to get it yourself. It takes a lot of discipline and you really have to stay committed to it.”
Phil Hodges, a Meadowdale assistant coach who works with hurdlers, said Grant’s “offseason training has made a big difference. He’s just become a stronger athlete. The kid loves track, that’s the bottom line. It’s given him a sense of purpose that he didn’t really have his freshman year … He’s a very competitive kid, and he’s improved so much.”
Grant has several goals for the next few months. He expects to run in elite age-groups meets around the country, and from those he hopes to be named a high school All-American. Also, he is being recruited by various colleges with Washington, Washington State and Michigan among his primary suitors, and he plans to make that decision soon.
But in the meantime there is this week’s state meet at Tacoma’s Mount Tahoma High School. Grant would love to surpass the high hurdles state-meet record of 13.86 set by Celtic Bowie of Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School in 1987.
“I want to beat that record so bad,” Grant admitted with a smile. “But with my collarbone issue, I just hope to do the best I possibly can at state and make my dreams come true by finishing both events as a state champion.
“I want to leave a mark at this school,” he added. “And how you finish at the end is really going to impact how people see you. I want to be one of those stories where people can see that anything’s possible if you just work at it.”
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