Agyare-May making his mark in the 600 meters

By Mary Albl for DyeStat

On Jan. 24 at the Massachusetts Elite Coaches Invitational in Boston, Rodney Agyare-May ran a staggering 1 minute, 18.94 second 600 at the Reggie Lewis Center. 

It was a new U.S. No. 1 and when it was all said and done, ranked as the No. 11th fastest of all-time for high school boys. 

But the times almost took a back seat for the Burncoat High (Worcester, Mass.) junior. Given his situation a few short months ago, he was just happy to be racing. 

On Nov. 26 in his last football game of the season against Doherty Memorial, Agyare-May took the brunt of a massive hit. 

“On a certain play I was going to tackle the running back, and this guy came out of nowhere and just blocked me,” Agyare-May said. “It took all the wind out of me.”

Burncoat track coach John Nicol, who was at the game, described the moment as “scary.”

“Everyone in the stands turned and looked at me,” the fourth-year coach said. 

Nicol said Agyare-May's bright and likable personality in combination with his standout athletic ability has made him a popular student in a school of roughly 1,000 students. 

“How important is he to the school? The principal actually ran out to the field to go and see if he was OK,” Nicol said. “He's a big part of the community.”

Agyare-May was able to walk off the field after the play, but spent that day, Thanksgiving, in the hospital recovering from a bruised liver. 

He was forced to miss almost the first month of the indoor track season. He didn't get cleared to run until the week of Christmas. 

“We thought the season wasn't going to happen,” Nicol said. 

Now, with more than a full month of training under him, Agyare-May said he's feeling much better but not quite 100 percent. He'll get a chance to see where he's at this weekend at The Armory Track Invitational in the 600. He will face a lineup that includes Infinite Tucker of Huntington NY, Shavanes Robinson of Boys & Girls NY and Kemarni Mighty of Clara Barton NY. 

“We talked about running in New York and nothing bothers him, nothing gets to him,” Nicol said. “He refuses to lose. He's never been shy of competition.”

Those traits are what have turned the football player into a standout sprinter. Agyare-May said he decided to go out for the track team in the eighth grade as a way to stay fit for his first passion, football. But an eye-opening five-second improvement in the 400 meters that spring changed things. 

“He looked like he could be good one day,” Nicol explained. “We put him in this invitational at a 63 (seconds) and he beat it by five seconds, and shocked everyone.”

From there, Agyare-May has blossomed into not only one of the premier sprinters in the Northeast but the entire country. 

As a freshman and sophomore, he finished sixth in the 400 in the emerging elite sections at the New Balance National Outdoor. He has a personal best of 48.35 in the event.

But it's been the 600, a traditional indoor distance, where Agyare-May has shined the most.  

“He's got a unique skill set that works so well,” Nicol said. “The 600 just seems to be his comfort zone. He's got the right combination of speed and strength.” 

Agyare-May said his 400 strength and work from the gridiron have contributed to his success in the event, and helped push him from a low 1:21 his sophomore season to a 1:18. 

He's got his eyes on breaking the New England record of 1:18.72 set in 2009 by Cas Loxsom. The national high school record of 1:17.64 is also on his radar. 

“The (1:18.94) changed a lot,” he said. “It made me step back and rethink what are my goals and what do I want to accomplish. (The) national record, always at the back of your head, but it's take it one step at a time.”

One of Agyare-May's next biggest steps is still deciding whether to finish out his high school football career or call it quits. 

“I've got a lot of opinions,” he said. “Football does help me get faster but at the same time do I risk getting injured? At the moment I'm leaning toward no (football) ... but things could change.”