photo by: John Young

Lawrence High's Tayvien Robinson competes in the 110m high hurdles during a dual meet between Lawrence High and Free State on Tuesday afternoon at LHS.

When coaches and fellow athletes watched Tayvien Robinson run hurdles last year, they all saw his potential. It just takes time to put all of the elements of racing together.

It’s no longer potential. In the past two weeks, Robinson has proven he is one of the state’s best in the 110-meter hurdles, winning Sunflower League and regional titles. He’s seeded third for prelims at the Class 6A state meet, which starts at 8 a.m. today at Wichita State.

A 6-foot-4 senior at Lawrence High, Robinson speaks softly. He’s impossible to miss when he’s running down the middle lanes. He uses his long frame to his advantage and speeds through the finish line.

Last year, Robinson competed for Free State after spending his first two years at Topeka High. When he joined the Firebirds, he wasn’t envisioning state titles. He joined the team because some of his friends already ran track.

Robinson didn’t have a long background in track. He ran hurdles for an AAU program in the summer before his freshman year, but he didn’t run during his sophomore year.

Working with Free State coach Jordan Rose last season, it started clicking for Robinson. He was raw and had to shake some rust, but all of the tools were there.

“I still think of him as one of mine, too. (LHS coach) Jack (Hood) and I share him,” Rose joked. “He’s somebody that put a lot of work in last year. He made huge improvements his junior year, so seeing him having that success this year has been very satisfying.”

Fast forward to this season, and Robinson said he was in top shape from playing basketball at LHS.

When he raced into virtual ties against junior teammate Trey Moore at the beginning of the year, who took fifth at state last season in the 110 hurdles, Robinson knew he was on the right path.

“Every practice, he would keep up with me and work harder,” Moore said. “His technique and form would get better each day. I just knew at the end of the time he would get as good as me or even better.”

The final step for Robinson was taking his strong performances from practice and proving himself at big meets.

“Shawnee Mission North Relays, I got sixth and I was like, ‘OK, maybe this is going to be a bad year,'” Robinson said.

One week after the SM North Relays, Robinson found himself at the league meet. Rain pushed back the start of the meet, and Robinson was becoming late for a family reunion in Topeka. With time for only one race, Robinson left it all out on the track and won in 15.17 seconds.

“I wanted to show out knowing that I wouldn’t run another event,” he said.

Robinson duplicated his performance at regionals last week, edging his teammate Moore for first place by 0.02 seconds.

Still undecided where he will run in college, Robinson is proud to see his hard work pay off and excited to see how he performs in his first state meet.

“It helps a lot knowing that since I’m a senior, I get looked at a lot,” Robinson said. “Now I’m one of the top-ranked hurdlers here, I get a lot of recognition. It’s pretty fun. I love it.”