Mastering a 'man's race?' Foster's Lyricc Lopez closing in one of Washington's revered all-time track and field marks

The last time folks saw Lyricc Lopez on a full-time basis in WIAA track and field, he was a raw, bouncy, talented ninth grader at Foster High School in 2019 who needed fine-tuning.

When the COVID-19 fog lifted - the past two seasons were abbreviated with no postseason - Lopez returned this spring as a legitimate all-time record chaser.

At 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, Lopez is a streaking, jumping blur in the 300-meter hurdles - a big reason why the University of Arizona badly wanted him to be part of its men's program.

His personal-best time of 36.95 seconds is the fastest mark in the event in Washington in nearly 17 years. The last athlete to post a sub-37-second time was Yelm High School six-time state champion Jake Hanson in 2005 (36.64).

But Lopez's burst has shown up in other events, too - such as a 10.73 in the 100 meters; 21.51 in the 200; and 46.65 in the 400.

"I am determined to be the best in the state," Lopez said.

Lopez is also not one to sit around.

When the pandemic swallowed up the WIAA spring sports season in 2020, Lopez sought out alternatives, and eventually became a club-track pupil of Tatum Taylor, a former O'Dea and University of Oregon standout who founded Bellevue-based GLS Speed Track Club.

And while Taylor has plenty of expertise in speed - he was an All-American sprinter with the Ducks - he knew little about the technical aspect of hurdling.

So, every week, he talked to Curtis Taylor, his former assistant coach at Oregon, about how to teach it. Tatum Taylor has also consulted others, including Seattle-area hurdles coach Doug Cooper.

"It's taken a village," Tatum Taylor said.

And yet, some of the best hurdling advice Lopez has received has come from his own high school from assistant coach Peller Phillips.

While Phillips is known more as a long-jump standout - he holds the state's all-time mark at 25 feet, 93/4 inches (1988) for Garfield High School - he was also a good 300 hurdler with a personal-best time of 36.8.

Phillips also lived with the state's greatest high school hurdler. His older brother, Mark, has the all-time record in the 300 hurdles at 36.57, set at the 1986 'Star Track' in Lincoln Bowl.

"To be honest with you, Lyricc reminds me of my brother," Peller Phillips said. "He just looks like a hurdler. When he goes over them, it's just different.

"He has great form."

And yet, Lopez wasn't initially enchanted by the event.

"My first 300 hurdles race, I hated it. I asked, 'Why is this so hard?'" Lopez said. "But then it started to come to me.

"I've always been told that the ... 300 hurdles is a man's race, and I want to prove myself in that category of hurdlers."

Lopez is down to the final meets of his high school career. And even though Peller is his high school hurdles' coach, he has never met Mark Phillips, also an ex-Garfield great.

"I've always wanted to meet him in person," Lopez said. "And if I got an opportunity to break the record in front of him, that would be crazy. I'd want that, just so he could see it with his own eyes."