PH’s Harris grabs baton

Patrick Henry's Aaron Harris cruises to a win in a meet last week. Harris has covered the 55-meter hurdles in 7.71 seconds this season. With Michael Quash having moved on, there's a vacancy in the penthouse of area high school high-hurdlers.

Aaron Harris has a sharp eye on the property.

The Patrick Henry senior opened the indoor track season by running Virginia's fastest-to-date 55-meters - 7.71 seconds.

By comparison, former Douglas Freeman standout Quash, now at Rend Lake Community College (Ill.), was crowned Central Region champion last winter with a 7.78.

"Each year, Mookie [Harris' nickname] has gotten better and better," Patriots coach and former Bridgewater College hurdler Scott Brown said.

"This past summer, he really dedicated himself to the weight room and his technique. He's a happy-go-lucky kid with a great work ethic."

A short for hurdling 5-9 170-pounder, Harris's coming out party was earlier this month at the Peninsula Ice Breaker at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton.

School record, too: Beating a field of 35 entries, Harris edged Lakeland's Tyrece Shepherd (7.73) in the final. He also broke the PH mark of 7.8 held by Jamison Kinney.

In the preliminaries, Harris posted a state-meet qualifying 7.88.

"I felt confident, based on all the work I put in over the summer," Harris said. "I had a feeling I could do it."

Contested over five, 39-inch fences, the 55 hurdles is a challenge of jackrabbit acceleration, raw speed and the rhythm of being able to clear the hurdles by a smidgen, without crashing.

Harris, a football linebacker, has the speed part and then some.

"Mookie ran our fastest 40 [in August] in the 4.4 range," said Brown, also a football assistant.

Always a hurdler: When Harris joined the Patriots' JV track team in eighth grade, there was no debate over what event he would focus.

"I always wanted to hurdle, and I caught on pretty quick," said Harris, who takes three strides between jumps and can recall no bad spills. "It just came natural."

Harris was sidelined last indoor season with a foot injury. In the spring, he took fifth in the region (Quash was first) in the 110 highs in 15.15.

This spring, he's after the PH outdoor mark of 14.9, set by Chris Smith in 1986, and Quash's district/region titles.

Fast family: The son of Linda Holman and Aaron Harris Sr., "Mookie" boasts some fleet relatives.

Kinfolk include former Patriots football/track standout D.J. Thomas (now at West Virginia University) and Emmanuel "Scoop" Holman, the 1986 Times-Dispatch football player of the year from PH.

Harris compensates for his lack of length with speed and style points. Asked about his technique, Harris said: "Smooth, very smooth."