In Little More Than A Year, Indiana State Champion Rylan Hainje Has Become Force In The Hurdles

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photo courtesy Rylan Hainje

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INDIANAPOLIS – The father was swagger and force. The son is introspection and finesse.

Both are named Rylan Hainje. They could not be more different. Or more alike.

The father became a memorable figure in Indianapolis, both at Butler University and Cathedral High. He had tryouts for the Indiana Pacers and Indianapolis Colts.

“That was crazy. I was not expecting that,” said the son, who learned of his father’s exploits a few years ago.

The son, a 17-year-old junior at Franklin Central, has been similarly unconventional. He never participated in organized sports until last year. Now, he is the fastest hurdler in Indiana high school history . . . and among the nation’s 10 fastest ever. He will get a chance to showcase his progress in this week’s New Balance nationals at Philadelphia.

Did we mention this all happened in less than 15 months?

“I expected him to be better. But not what he’s doing now,” the father said. “It just kind of came out of nowhere.”

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First, a bit about the older Rylan Hainje.

At Cathedral, he played on Indiana state championship teams in football in 1996 and basketball in 1998. The 6-foot-6 forward was recruited by coach Thad Matta to play basketball at Butler.

He was at his best against Butler’s best opponents or when stakes were highest.

In 2001, Hainje scored 20 points to lead Butler over Detroit 53-38 to win the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. He scored 15 in the Bulldogs’ first NCAA tournament victory in 39 years, a 79-63 victory over Wake Forest.

The next season, Hainje scored 25 points as Butler erased a 14-point deficit for its first victory at Purdue since 1954. He scored 19 of his 23 in the first half of a victory at Ball State, propelling Butler into the Top 25 for the first time in 53 years.

Butler became 13-0 by beating Indiana 66-64 at then-Conseco Fieldhouse. It was a pyrrhic victory.

Hainje developed a chip fracture in his ankle. He never missed a game thereafter and became Horizon League player of the year. But Butler was snubbed for 2002 NCAA tournament selection despite a 25-5 record and high computer ranking.

“I couldn’t believe it. I was sick. I was just sick,” Hainje said.

Neither NFL nor NBA were in his future. He had a tryout with the Colts as a tight end. He said the late Jim Irsay, the Colts owner, was among those watching a private workout.

Hainje went on to play pro basketball in Europe, winning championships in Hungary and Norway. Then back to Indianapolis, where he started a car detailing business. His clients now include NFL and NBA players.

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There are out-of-nowhere stories in track and field. Usually, those are about teens featuring unmeasured speed or strength. Hurdling is about technique.

Overnight success? Does not happen. Until now.

The son Rylan Hainje – he doesn’t go by Rylan Jr. or Rylan II or Junior -- has height (6-foot-4), genes, coaching, and, most recently, motivation.

He was not one to be caught up in youth sports culture. He ran footraces in the neighborhood. He played pickup ball.

He said he thought about track in eighth grade but lacked confidence or friends on the team. He was going out as a freshman until he broke his leg playing pickup football. Then a friend encouraged him to try again.

Hainje missed the 2024 indoor season and came out in March, after spring break.

Providentially, he was steered to Frankin Central’s hurdles coach, Melinda George. She had developed two hurdles state champions, Zach Bray and Jacob Wright, while coaching at Hamilton Southeastern.

Her day job: forensic DNA analyst for the Indiana State Police Laboratory.

“Hurdles is all science,” George said. “You can win by being technical.”

Initially, Hainje was “terrified” of the hurdles, George said. So at his first practice, he started over six-inch wickets. Then 30-inch girls hurdles. Finally, 39-inch boys hurdles.

The next day, he ran his first meet. And won. His time in the 110-meter hurdles was uninspiring -- 16.98 seconds -- but it was a start.

Last year Hainje coped with anxiety and false-started out of some aces. Also, he was not used to training. In one workout, he was supposed to run 12 times 200 meters.

“After two 200s, I’d by like, ‘Where did he go?’  He’d be like, ‘Oh I’m done. I’m tired,’ “ George said.

Last season, Hainje finished two workouts. This season, all of them.

A back injury interrupted last season, and he went into the sectional without having run the 110 hurdles in a month. He finished third in 15.04, then lowered his time to 15.02 in placing fifth in the regional.

Not bad for a sophomore. Nothing like what he was becoming.

“It’s just been a learning curve,” George said.

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Last summer, George regularly coached hurdler Hainje, who transformed from tentative to tenacious. They worked on takeoff and landing, knee and foot placement, posture, block settings, starts. Everything.

“He’s stronger. He pays more attention, and he’s just more excited about it,” George said.

Improvement was dramatic. In his first indoor race March 5, he ran the 60-meter hurdles in 7.98 to break the school record held by Malachi Quarles, a state champion.

On March 12, Hainje clocked 7.78 to break the state record set by Fishers’ Tyler Tarter last year. A week later, Hainje lowered that to 7.76 – 11th in the nation, fourth among juniors.

He was third in the state indoors, beaten by Merrillville’s John Peters, who tied Hainje’s state record.

Confidence wasn’t an issue, Hainje said. Just got beat. George reasoned the loss was needed to persuade the hurdler he still has work to do.

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As the June 6 state meet approached, Hainje was decreasing times and increasing consistency. In six successive meets, his times: 13.78. 13.66, 13.61, 13.69, 13.75, 13.57.

And in a cool and rainy spring, it's not like he always had favorable weather.

Then, in the state final, he lowered his time all the way to 13.28 for US#3. He also won the 300 hurdles, clocking 35.82 for US#2.

His 13.28 (+0.8 wind) ties for 10th on the all-time list, excluding a hand-timed 12.9 by Renaldo Nehemiah from 1977. The junior-class record is 13.22 by Jamar Marshall, St. Marys, Stockton, Calif., 2019.

“I was not expecting to break anything today because I’m only a junior,” Hainje said. “I came out here a little bit nervous. It’s my first outdoor state.”

He beat the deepest field in Indiana history. Fifth place was 13.82, a time that would have won 39 of 44 state finals since auto-timing was introduced in 1980.

His time cleaned up some messy stats.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association listed the state meet record as 13.64 by Indianapolis Tech’s Jerry Hill from 1976. (That was a hand-timed 13.4, adding a conversion of 0.24 seconds.) Fastest at state with automatic timing was 13.69 by Evansville Harrison’s Bryce Brown in 2007. All-time Indiana best was a wind-aided 13.42 by Brown or a hand-timed 13.3 by Gary Roosevelt’s Elbert Turner in 1986.

Moreover, Hainje became just the fourth in 100 years to set two records at the same state meet.

He subsequently won in 13.62 at Indiana’s junior/senior all-star meet Saturday, raising his yearly record to 17-0 in the 110 hurdles.

“I don’t know how fast the kid can go at this point,” George said.

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The hurdler lives with his mother, Tiffany Jones, and twin brother, Braylin. He said he speaks regularly to his father, who videos races and posts them on social media.

“This is his safe haven here,” the father said. “This is what he loves to do. Kind of like how I did in basketball and football.”

The son said people approach him at meets and ask if he is related to the other Rylan Hainje, making him “nervous a little bit.” The father is vocally supportive at meets, but the son said “everything zones out” and he doesn’t usually hear anything.

“He’s getting much more confident,” George said. “Kids at school figure out who he is.”

It is early in the college recruiting process, too, although Hainje will attract attention. Unlike his father at Butler, he doesn’t have to depend on a selection committee for validation. The clock is the arbiter.

“We have come a l-o-n-g  way,” George said.

And in a short time.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.