Episcopal Academy’s record-breaking freshman Abaas Hunter sets sights on Penn Relays

Abaas Hunter has always been fast.

In fact, even in diapers, speed made the Episcopal Academy freshman a handful.

“As soon as he was able to walk,” Hunter’s father, Ron Asaad Hunter, said in a recent phone interview. “I don’t even think he crawled. I think he went straight from sitting on all fours, to waddling, and then running.

“I noticed it when he was about two, running all over the house,” the proud dad continued. “The adults really couldn’t catch him.”

Few have caught him since.

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Earlier this month, Hunter set a school and meet record in the 100 meters, finishing in 10.73 seconds at the Rustin Invitational, his first outdoor high school meet. The time tied a freshman state record.

The upcoming Penn Relays, however, will provide different challenges. Hunter, who has been running track since he was six years old, seldom loses.

Expectations and crowd size are hurdles the 15-year-old is still learning to clear.

“I feel like as I got older I kind of struggled to deal with all of the excitement and all of the people around,” Hunter said, from the school’s Newtown Square campus. “Sometimes it’s scary to run in front of big crowds, especially when all the attention is on you and you’re expected to win the race. But I feel like I’m coping with it better now.”

Hopes are high for the Churchmen, who won the PTFCA High School Indoor State Championship for the first time in February at Penn State University.

At the Penn Relays, EA coach Zach Richards said Hunter will likely compete in the distance medley relay and the 4x100 and 400-meter relays.

The Churchmen’s DMR quartet, Dakin Ebmeyer, Aidan McHugh, Michael Woolery, and Hunter, will be the same squad that won the DMR in March at the Nike Indoor Nationals at The Armory in New York.

If there are concerns about how Hunter will handle potential jitters ahead of the Penn Relays, they aren’t shared by Richards.

“I have no worries about him,” Richards said. “Because I know he’s going to come back and run really well because he’s shown us that on a couple of big stages.”

Richards also praised Hunter for having maturity and wisdom beyond his years and for taking on a leadership role in practice despite being a freshman.

After Hunter was unhappy with his 200-meter performance at the indoor state championships in February, Richards asked him to rally when the title came down to the 4x400 relay.

“That was a really big moment on a really big stage,” Richards said. “That said a lot about him.”

Hunter’s father, who ran track and was an all-conference football player at Cheyney University, thinks his son will handle the Penn Relays atmosphere well.

Ron Hunter, 37, competed in the 4x100 at the relays in college, but said his team was disqualified for dropping the baton before he could anchor the race.

“I just want [Abaas] to enjoy it and embrace that big crowd,” Ron said. “He seems to turn it on when the lights are brightest.”

“Sometimes he does get in his head, worrying about a time or who he’s running against,” Ron continued. “I just say, ‘focus on your training…’”

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To that end, Hunter says he’ll concentrate on getting off to a good start in the 100-meter relay. For the 400, he says, a strategy usually materializes during the race.

If they are going to slow him down, those jitters better have on track shoes.

“I’ve just been training since I was really young and now everything that I’ve been doing leads up to this,” Hunter said. “I just feel I’m at a point where I just need to show everyone what I’ve been working on since I was 6 years old and just make a name for myself.”