Track & Field, Soccer, Baseball
Favorite athlete: Jeremy Wariner, Walter Dix
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the state championship in the 100m
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Tripping over the last hurdle at the Henderson Invitational and falling face first in front of the whole stadium.
Music on your iPod: Kanye West, Ground Up, Wiz Khalifa, Eminem, Hoodie Allen, Aziz
Future plans: Go to college and receive a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Administrations
Words to live by: “The man with the most bricks thrown at him ends up building the strongest house.”
One goal before turning 30: Visit the Seven Wonders of the World.
One of Ryan Hynes’ personal goals for his senior season on the Central Bucks South track and field team was to leave a legacy … to establish himself among the great athletes who have worn the Titans’ colors through the years.
He’s done exactly that. A state title, a selfless act during league championships, even a memorable recovery during a race have helped ensure that Hynes will long be remembered at his alma mater.
To Hynes, though, leaving a legacy went hand-in-hand with winning a state championship.
“My main goal was to make it to states again and be successful,” Hynes said. “Coming into my final year, I really wanted to go out making my mark on South. I think I kind of made my mark there, so I’m really happy about that.
“I felt that a state title was the final accomplishment I wanted to achieve. I already received District medals, league medals, I had a Penn Relays medal. I’ve had everything you could want minus that state title. To finally get it my senior year was just great.”
Hynes, who was named All-League First Team in the 200 meters, 300-meter hurdles, long jump and as a member of South’s 4x100 relay team, and finished second in the 100, third in the 4x100 relay, fifth in the 300 hurdles and second in the long jump at the District One Championships, earned his state gold medal in an event he rarely ran during the dual meet season – the 100 meters. But as the postseason progressed, it became more and more apparent that Hynes’ best chance at gold might be in the sprint event.
Hynes had planned to compete in the 300 hurdles, long jump and 4x100 relay at districts and states. His coach, Jason Gable, had suggested Hynes add a fourth event, but both decided that the 200 would be too taxing. So they looked at the 100, which Hynes had run sparingly during the dual meet season, mostly as preparation and training for the early stages of the 300 hurdles.
“We talked and the consensus was that the 200, which he had been doing all year, when you get to the districts and states and you have prelims and semifinals and finals, it really builds up really quick,” Gable said. “There was the 4x400, but we had four strong guys in the 4x4 and he really wanted to add an individual event.
“We looked at the times in the 100 and I said, ‘OK, you’ll probably makes states in the 100 and you’ll probably even make finals, and we’ll just see what happens.’ And as he was racing at districts, we got to really see what he could do against the best in the area. We laughed and said the fourth event that we picked for him to do the week before districts might be his best shot at getting a state title.”
And one week after settling for District One silver after being leaned out at the finish line by Upper Perkiomen’s Ronnie Gillespie, Hynes outleaned Milton Hershey’s Andrew Adighibe to claim the state championship in the 100 meters.
“Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I got him,” said Hynes, who was awarded the race after a photo finish. “When I saw my name come up first, I immediately lost it. I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe I actually had my own state title. It was just a great way to end my career.”
Making his accomplishment all the more impressive is that he won one of the most technically complex races in track, despite not running it much through the season. While some see the 100 meters as simply a sprint, it is an event that requires near-perfect technique, because even the slightest mistake can cost a runner the race.
“If you have a bad start, you take yourself completely out of contention,” Hynes said. “My coach always tells me you have to focus on your first 20 meters because that’s the most important. You have to get out of the blocks quickly, go through that drive phase, power through and build up into your full sprint, and then it’s who has the fastest movements, the fastest legs. And then there’s the lean at the end.”
The gold medal he won at states will be something Hynes will treasure. One of the gold medals he earned at leagues this year is something a teammate and friend will treasure.
Fellow senior Jim Gannon was a member of the 4x100 relay team and one of the top Titan sprinters. During a qualifying race, Gannon injured a hamstring – the same hamstring that he had surgery on a year earlier – and would not be able to compete. Gannon was replaced on the relay, and when the squad earned the Continental Conference title, Hynes presented his medal to Gannon.
“Hynes got his medal, went right up to Gannon at the fence and gave him his medal,” Gable said. “That shows the type of person that he is, that he would win a gold medal at league championships and he gives it to a teammate that was supposed to be running in that relay.”
For Hynes, though, there was never a second thought about what he was going to do with that medal.
“When we got to the meet, we saw Jimmy before we raced and gave him a hug,” Hynes said. “At that moment I knew we all were determined to win it for him. That’s why I gave him the medal. He deserved it. He worked so hard during his high school years, for it to end such a terrible way, that was heartbreaking. I really thought he deserved it. A medal … it’s only a material thing. A friendship can last forever.”
Of course, legacies are made not only with medals and victories, but in the way one handles adversity as well. And while Hynes shudders at the thought of this year’s Henderson Invitational, his coach points to it as a clear example of the kind of competitor Hynes is.
During the 300 hurdles, Hynes was a bit off while clearing an early hurdle, and as a result, had to add an extra step to clear the upcoming hurdles. Battling neck-and-neck with another runner, in the final leap, Hynes’ lead leg caught under the hurdle, and he came tumbling down face-first to the track.
“Ryan still was able to get up right away and finish the race and beat 40 seconds, he ran a low 39, and he still medaled,” Gable said. “It’s one of those things that shows how much of a competitor he is, falls over the hurdle and still medals and runs a really good time.”
“I guess I could have stayed down and waited for them to come out, and have everyone clapping as I got up and walked off the track, but I was OK, and I just don’t see that as the right thing to do,” Hynes said. “I could have done that, or I could have gotten up and finished the race I was running. You have to finish every race.”
It turns out that Hynes starts just as well as he finishes. As the top 300 hurdler on the team, Hynes runs in the very first event of every dual meet. As a captain on this year’s team, Hynes is expected to lift the team when it’s necessary. There’s no better way to lift the team than with a first-place finish to start off a meet on a high note.
“There were times we’d have a rough practice going into a meet, and I know everyone is looking at me, because I have 300 hurdles, and they’re looking at me to step up for our team,” Hynes said. “I like when people count on me. I really love that role.
“I know everyone’s looking at me to stay focused and do something big for the team from the start. When I win, it gets the team hyped up, and it’s just a good feeling to know you’re part of the reason why everyone wants to perform well and do their best.”
Much of Hynes’ drive to do well stems from his brothers, both of whom were standout track and field athletes. His oldest brother Duane earned All-America status and brother Derek has a state championship to his name.
As a result of their successes, much was expected from Ryan. He admits that it weighed on him for a while, until he realized he needed to compete for himself, not for his brothers.
“They had such great success in this sport, the main thing that got to me was, ‘How am I going to fill these shoes? There’s no way I’m going to be able to live up to it,’” Hynes said. “As I progressed through high school, I came to the epiphany that it doesn’t matter what they did, it’s about who I was and what I was going to accomplish. Once I started realizing that I should accomplish things for myself and use that sibling rivalry as an inspiration to help create my own success, that’s when I started to blossom as an athlete.
“Of course, I still wanted to surpass them. I wanted to win that state title so bad. My middle brother had one, my oldest brother was an All-American. So I needed something to go with my name.”
And while he has followed the path laid before him by his brothers in becoming a star athlete for the Titans, he will travel a different path from here on out. Both of his brothers – and much of his family – attended Princeton University. But Hynes, a member of the National Honor Society at C.B. South – will head about 225 miles north and pursue his education at Cornell University.
Hynes was accepted into Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, where he will study the business side of hotels, casinos and restaurants (he can also cook, too. Hynes boasts that he makes a “pretty mean grilled cheese sandwich”). It’s something he’s always been interested in, having grown up seeing the lesser-seen side of Atlantic City.
“My grandmom works in Atlantic City,” Hynes said. “She was the executive secretary for guys like Donald Trump and Dennis Gomes. As a kid I was always in the casinos, exploring the back halls that no one ever really got to see. It was a cool experience. As I grew up, my passions formed around that idea.”
While at Cornell, Hynes will compete in the decathlon for the Big Red track and field team. He took part in three decathlons last summer, two for AAU and one for the USATF.
In the Olympic Games, the winner of the decathlon is often referred to as the World’s Greatest Athlete. And Hynes knows it takes an all-around athlete to compete in the decathlon. He’s looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s such a difficult task you have to conquer,” he said. “You have to learn so much, but it’s going to be fun. I can’t wait.
“With decathlon, you can’t be just the greatest sprinter or jumper, you have to be a great all-around athlete. You have to work extremely hard to learn all the events.”
Hynes expects the shot put might give him the most trouble, and said he’s looking most forward to learning how to master the pole vault.
“Who doesn’t want to run down the runway, pole vault 15 feet into the air and fall into this soft cushion? It sounds like the most fun,” he said.
And while he is looking forward to the next chapter in his life, Hynes will miss the familiar blue-and-black of Central Bucks South.
“At the state meet, it really did hit me,” he said. “After the 300 hurdles I sat in the turf field at Shippensburg for maybe a half an hour, took in the whole atmosphere because I knew it was going to be the last time running in a C.B. South jersey.”
Though he may be leaving the uniform behind, there is little doubt that he is also leaving a legacy.
“Ryan is very competitive and he loves what he does. He gets so much enjoyment out of running,” Gable said. “It takes a very patient athlete to sit there and wait during the workouts and during the year to see the true benefits in the end. He’s always listened to me, he’s always believed in the training and has always been patient with it.
“He’s been a great captain. You want that type of athlete who also excels in academics. It shows the younger kids they can balance academics and athletics. Whether it was in practice or in a meet or just in getting his teammates up for a meet, he showed the true leader and true man that he is and that he’ll continue to be. I can’t thank him enough.”
