Hurdles that he's cleared are higher than most

CHESAPEAKE

Trey Holloway doesn't like talking about it.

Neither does anyone else in the family.

But as Holloway prepares for today's finals of the 55-meter hurdles at the Group AAA state indoor track meet, it's hard to ignore that day nearly five years ago.

In the summer of 2007, Holloway had just returned home after winning a national title in the 100 hurdles at the AAU Club National meet. His track club, Track-757, was holding a car wash to raise money so the team could compete at the AAU Nationals. Holloway, who had just turned 13, helped out by holding up a sign near the intersection of Volvo Parkway and Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake. But as he crossed the road, a car - coming from his blind side - clipped his right leg and sent him crashing to the ground.

Holloway lay there as his father, Stan, rushed to his side. He then turned to his father and with tears in his eyes said, "Dad, I can't go to Junior Olympics, can I?'

"No, you can't," his father answered.

"We don't really talk about it that much," Stan said. "It was a compound fracture. He broke his leg in three places and it came out of the skin."

Doctors inserted a rod and three screws to hold Holloway's leg in place.

Trey Holloway still wanted his dad to go to nationals.

"He told me he wanted me to go because the team needed me," Stan said. "And I told him, 'No, you need me.' That let me know that my little boy was becoming a young man."

Holloway was determined to come back, even though doctors told him his running career was over.

"I was angry because they didn't think I'd be able to run again," said Holloway, who walked with a limp for three years after the accident.

Even his dad was apprehensive about his son wanting to compete again.

"I remember him saying, 'Dad, I'm gonna run again,' " said Stan, who credits Mount Lebanon Baptist Church and Bishop Kim Brown for prayer and support. "And me being a dad, I was like, 'Yes, you will.' Then he asked me if he would hurdle again and I said let's just try to run first."

That was all the motivation Trey needed. He wanted to return a year after the accident but his dad said no. In the meantime, the two spent many days in the weight room strengthening Trey's right leg, his lead leg when competing in the hurdles.

Holloway's first competition was February 2010 at an indoor meet, nearly three years after the accident. He showed promise but no one, including his dad, thought he'd ever return to his old form.

But with each meet, Holloway improved. He got stronger, quicker and was more determined than ever to prove everyone wrong.

"I knew I could do it because I kept working hard," said Trey, now 17. "I was just trying to get better."

Trey broke through last spring when he ran 14.54 seconds to win the 110 hurdles at the Eastern Region outdoor meet.

"I was surprised," Grassfield coach Calvin Copeland said. "It was his coming-out party as he let everybody know who he was."

The following week at the Group AAA state meet, Holloway once again impressed when he ran 14.03 in the semifinals - the third-fastest time of the day.

"It just felt good," Trey said. "I was happy to be back."

Trey fell in the finals. But he's motivated to get his first state title today in the indoor 55 hurdles.

"It's important," he said. "I just want to win."

Trey, who will run track at Hampton University, is among the favorites today. He has the fastest time in the state and third-fastest time in the nation at 7.24 seconds. Dondre Echols of Maryland has run 7.17.

"I'm not surprised at what I've done," Trey said, "because I've been working hard every day to get there."

Larry Rubama, 757-446-2273, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com