When it comes to blazing speed, Hazen High School’s Kenyon Andrews is already past you.

The soon-to-be junior is coming off a state championship to cap his sophomore school year in the 300-meter hurdles. He also broke the Hazen school record his freshman year and is coming off of a Junior Olympics national title as well.

Andrews comes from a track family — that is where his passion developed. Well, it might have been due to a bit of family pressure.

“Initially I ran track because it was forced upon me. My mom ran track and my dad ran track. My parents’ rule was if you want to live in the house, you have to run track,” he said.

But lucky for Andrews, he shined on the oval. Track became his passion, and the Hazen student has turned into one of the best runners in the state.

“Along the way I learned to love the sport. Not only because I was good at it, but because of the coaches and peers that inspired me to become better. That is really what keeps me wanting to run track,” Andrews said.

Andrews competes in the longer hurdles races and continues the family lineage of hurdlers. From his mom to his two other siblings, the Andrews do the hurdles.

For his state title run, he ran a 37.75 in the 3A 300-meter hurdles, beating second place by a full second. His time also is the fastest in the entire state, regardless of classification.

A few months after winning the state crown, Andrews took his talents to College Station, Texas, for the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic Nationals on July 22-28.

“As soon as I landed in Texas, it felt like a different environment,” Andrews said.

Andrews was no stranger to running in big stadiums as he has participated at countless college stadiums — and he is nothing but comfortable when the crowd gets on its feet.

“The stadium didn’t have that much of an effect on me…It was definitely an experience,” he said.

Coming into the event, Andrews had the fastest qualifying time in the 15-16 age group. So there was an expectation that he had a chance to get on the podium. His first go round didn’t feel right, he said, but he still had the quickest prelim time. Then when the race came, he won with a 52.77, which was 4th for the entire event.

After winning a race like the 400-hurdles on the track that the Texas A&M Aggies run on, against some of the best runners in the U.S., Andrews didn’t even have time to really celebrate his accomplishment due to the fact that he was needed to run on the 4×100 meter relay.

Running at a school like A&M could be foreshadowing the career of the junior. But as far as he is concerned, what college he runs at is a problem for future Kenyon. His focus is on daily improvement, and staying on top of the books.

“I have goals to run college track, but no clue where I want to go. I feel like I am a little young, so I haven’t been thinking much about it. I’ve been thinking more about bettering myself and my sports and school,” Andrews said.

He is leaning toward going out of state, for what it is worth.

His coach at Hazen, Buddy Ryan, has a bit of a hunch that Andrews could be one of the greatest athletes to dawn the Highlanders track jersey: “This young man is the best Hazen has ever had and will be on TV in 2 years.”

For any athlete, that can be a heavy weight to carry. But Andrews has been kind of oblivious to where his talent can truly take him. He’s heard the noise, but that reality seems to be a distant future.

“I don’t think the reality has hit me yet, but I have heard people saying something similar (to Ryan),” Andrews said.

It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Andrews either. He’s had to battle injuries in his career, but he is looking forward to having a go at the Olympics when the time comes.

“I really want that to happen. I have been working a lot, battling through injury,” Andrews said.

As for his goals for the rest of his high school career? Andrews wants to hold the 4A state record. For the last two years of his time as a Highlander, they will be at the top of the state. Prior to his state title, he wanted the 3A record as well. But his time was just shy of the 37.11 mark set back in 2010.

But his eyes are now on 36.57 set by Mark Phillips of Garfield back in 1986.

“It has been on my mind…As soon as state ended (this year) I was focused on breaking the 4A record,” he said. “Hopefully I can run a good race and get that, and another state championship again.”

Photo provided by Kenyon Andrews.