Maize's Ukaoma has speed to spare
No matter what activity Liz and Clement Ukaoma put their son Miles into, he succeeded.
Soccer, basketball. Taekwondo, wrestling, football, track, choir, trombone. Pick one and his mom will explain just how well he did it.
As a sixth grader, he taught himself to play the guitar and now regularly has jam sessions with friends. He's into computer operating systems, so he posts instructional videos on YouTube.
When former Maize track coach Brent Pfeifer first decided to put Ukaoma into the 400 meters in 2008, there was no question. Why wouldn't Ukaoma succeed?
A year later, Ukaoma ran the 400 in 47.95 seconds, winning the Class 6A title as a junior. He signed with Nebraska in February.
"He has worked hard," Liz Ukaoma said. "He doesn't give up."
Miles Ukaoma initially was a hurdler. He's 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, and he has long legs perfect for hurdles.
Ukaoma's willingness to be pushed in other events combined with his stride piqued Pfeifer's interest.
"He has a great kick at the back end of that stride," said Pfeifer, now Maize South's athletic director. "He has a lot of power going into it. He lengthens his stride out, and it's a fantastic, fundamental stride."
Ukaoma, who also runs the 200 and the 110 hurdles, embraced the change. It helped that not only is he competitive, he faced off with teammate Mike Flores. They pushed each other every practice, every meet. Flores, the two-time defending champion in the 400, finished second to Ukaoma as a senior in 2009.
Ukaoma's 47.95 in the 6A finals was shocking, though.
"The day prior to that, I ran a 48.5 and that was a (personal record)," Ukaoma said. "I didn't feel tired after that. Usually when you run a PR, you're exhausted."
Maize first-year track coach Jerrod Handy hasn't seen Ukaoma tired yet.
"He's an amazing athlete, no doubt about it," said Handy, a former decathlete at Wichita State. "He can run any workout that I give him, and he's ready to do more. He comes across the finish line and acts like he's not even breathing hard."
That 47.95 caught the attention of college coaches.
Missouri and Kansas called Ukaoma, but Nebraska took the extra step, showing up at a football practice last fall.
"It was pretty awesome," Ukaoma said.
Until then, he planned to play college football. After Nebraska visited, he told his parents he wanted to visit Lincoln.
"That's one of the better times of the country, especially for a young man — and I've coached all over the country — in the Midwest," Nebraska assistant coach Billy Maxwell said. "It's a lot different for a kid running in the 47s from the Midwest than 47s from the South or the West."
Maxwell explained that the time is impressive because of how short the track season is in the Midwest.
"That's the potential that you see. He can become that good in that short of time," Maxwell said. "And him having played another sport in high school, they don't have a lot of time to devote their full capacity of track and field."
Ukaoma's talent wasn't a surprise to Handy, who watched him last season when he was coaching at Northwest.
Handy hasn't seen all of Ukaoma's talent just yet. Ukaoma started training in November, but Handy has kept his in-season workouts low-key.
"The worst thing I could do right now is cause an injury, run him so hard or do something that allows him to pull a hamstring," Handy said.
"... There will come a time where I'll put a watch on him and push him hard."