It's looking to be a breakout year for Humboldt's Ryan Graf.
The 17-year-old track athlete is ranked number one by Athletics Canada in the junior men's indoor 50-m sprint. He posted a Tabasco-hot time of 6.09 seconds in that event at a meet in Saskatoon earlier this winter. Graf is also among the top 10 in the country in the junior men's 60-m and 200-m indoor events, ranked eighth in both those categories. Those ranking are also based on times he posted at various meets.
Now, he's hoping to take his indoor success outdoors, as he gears up for his final season of high school athletics.
Graf attends Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI), where he trains with the Mohawks track team. He also continues to train for national amateur competition with his Saskatoon-based coach, Dale Upton. Graf makes the trip into Saskatoon for practice up to four times a week.
Last year was a very strong one for Graf, despite the fact that he was hobbled for part of the outdoor track season with a hip flexor injury. Even with that setback, he still managed a host of gold medals at high school provincials, and a bronze medal in the 100-m sprint at Junior Nationals.
Junior Nationals took place in Moncton, N.B., last August, and Graf was competing there as an underaged athlete, as he was still in his final year of juvenile eligibility. Combine that with the fact that he was competing against older runners, and toss in the hip flexor injury, and he still got a national medal.
Not bad.
"My coach didn't even realize I'd won (bronze), Graf told the Humboldt Journal. "His plane was leaving early, so we talked about the race and how it went, and then he went on his way. He didn't even know I'd won a medal until I sent him a text later.
"I was stuck in a slower heat, because there were eight guys who ran a faster time than me (in preliminaries)," he explained. "It's not often that you place out of a slower heat. Usually, it's one-two-three that medal in the faster heat. So Dale had no clue. I was surprised at first, too. It was a nice feeling."
That finish at summer's end set the tone for a strong indoor season as well.
It was in dealing with his hip flexor injury last summer that Graf gained a new perspective on what it takes to succeed at an elite level. He realized he needed to focus on his weaknesses, just as much as his strengths.
He sought help in Humboldt at Finish First Athletic Therapy, getting ultrasound treatments that broke down the injured muscle and helped to rebuild it stronger than before. Massage therapy and strength training using resistance bands were also part of his rehabilitation.
University of Saskatchewan kinesiologist Nick Clarke developed a weight training program especially for Graf, that would strengthen those core parts of his body most susceptible to injury, like hip flexors and hamstrings, Graf noted.
"You go to the gym, and you see all those football players in there," Graf said. "What do they work on? It's all arms. But you need that leg strength too. Sure you want to have bigger arms, but you have to have a balance. Otherwise, you're going to have all kinds of weak points.
"Obviously it's important to be strong as a sprinter, but I think a lot of your muscles develop through training," he added. "The biggest thing with my weight training has been more injury prevention. You actually have so many weak muscles, and when you're training at such a high intensity, eventually those weak points aren't going to be able to take it."
Upton has been working with Graf since the end of Graf's Grade 9 year. He noted that Graf's strength training has been a major reason for his improvement.
"He's a very thin lad, but he has steel cables for muscles," he said. "He's quite strong, but he still needs to add some bulk to get more speed. That's one reason the weight training program has helped him a lot.
"His speed has really improved," Upton added. "In Edmonton (at an indoor meet two months ago) I put him in the senior age bracket, and he ran against a guy who was 30 years old and training to get to the Olympics. And this guy was fast! Ryan almost won the race, but the other guy hit him with his hand coming out of the (starting) blocks, and it put Ryan a bit off balance. But that just shows that he can go up in age group and not be intimidated. He's got real maturity, too."
Graf noted that the biggest area he continues to work on is his form.
"There are so many little things, like with your arms," he said. "Some people think the faster you move your arms, the faster you'll go. But there's a lot more to it than that. When you drive your arm back, that's what brings your opposite leg up. And if you've got no arm drive back, your knees are going to be low. Things like that can make such a difference."
While he has always been a fast starter out of the blocks, Graf noted that a lifetime of hockey has ingrained a side-to-side motion in his stride. For sprinters, that translates into a lot of wasted energy.
"I've had fast starts, but my first move out of the blocks is all hockey player," he said. "I take up almost the whole lane on my first two steps. I'm going too far side to side, and I'm really trying to work on that. It's going to take a while, because it's something that's been drilled in my head for 10 years."
That should become less of a concern in the future, as Graf left hockey behind last year in order to concentrate more fully on running. However, he did continue to play high school volleyball right up to this season, and Upton said that cross-training has proven very beneficial.
"He's got an exceptional vertical leap, and I think in that way his volleyball training has really helped him," Upton said.
"He's a very fast starter, and he's got a second gear that kicks in about half-way through his races," Upton added. "Not many runners his age have that. He's still developing, in my point of view, and he has a lot of room to grow. Who knows?"
Graf has set some serious - but attainable - goals for this outdoor season. He's hoping to return to Junior Nationals, this year in Winnipeg. He'd also like to attend senior nationals in Calgary, and the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops in August. An outside shot might be qualifying for the Pan-American Games, which will be in Florida.
"It's really a high-set goal, and I don't know if I could actually qualify as a 100-m or 200-m runner," Graf said. "But something to aim for would be to make it as part of the relay team. It would be an incredible meet to go to."
In the meantime, high school Provincials are coming up in June in Regina. Upton feels Graf should be a favorite in each of his events - the 100-m and 200-m sprint, the 100-m hurdles, and long jump.
Graf holds provincial high school records in the 100-m (10.78 seconds) and 200-m (22.30 seconds) events
But Graf himself isn't concerned about winning medals.
"If I just wanted to win medals, I would only run against my own age group, all the time," he said. "But that's not going to make me a better athlete.
"I don't want to come off the wrong way saying that, but I've been running in higher age groups already, and I've been medaling there. I feel that's the best way for me to keep improving. If I'm going to run the best I'm capable of running, I want all the best athletes right there to push me. It's amazing how that really does push you."
