UCI’s Sicard hurdling obstacles
For most, hurdles are metaphorical obstacles that stand between goals and achievement. The same is true for UC Irvine sophomore Lloyd Sicard. It’s just that in his case, failure to clear even one hurdle may generate blood flow as well as defeat.
But for Sicard, who is the No. 2 qualifier for the 110-meter high hurdles at the NCAA Track and Field Championships that begin Wednesday at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, progress on the track has also been an outline for life lessons. His success, in fact, might easily become a wellspring of inspiration, and a chronicle for any underdog determined to overcome.
It starts with genetics. At 5-foot-10, Sicard is a few inches shy of the general height preference for college hurdlers, let alone the event’s elite. There is, after all, considerable wisdom behind the physiological advantage that longer legs provide when it comes to traversing 42-inch hurdles at sprinter speed.
“I would say 95% of the time, I am the shortest guy in the field,” said Sicard, whose qualifying time of 13.60 seconds at the NCAA West Region meet in Austin, Texas, broke his own school record by nearly two-tenths of a second. “I have good foot speed in general, but technique for me is very important. I’m not tall enough to make certain errors, because I will slow down a lot.”
His lack of height limited his opportunities among elite college programs, but a potentially devastating injury toward the end of his senior season at Gardena Serra High also added to an attrition of recruiting attention. Additionally, it threatened his entire collegiate future, while challenging the foundation of his character.
“I hurt my [right] foot at Penn Relays my senior year [of high school],” said Sicard, the Big West Conference champion in the 110 hurdles who is only the second Anteater to win the event in the last 27 years. “I had a lot of hairline factures and ligament damage. Three different doctors told me my season was over. It was right before league preliminaries, which is the first step on the road to the state meet. My foot was blowing up. It swelled up like a ball and I could barely put my spike on. The day before league prelims, my dad [Lloyd G. Sicard], who is Jamaican, had me try an old Jamaican remedy. He cut two pieces of ginger and wrapped them around my foot, Then, I alternated dipping it in buckets of hot water and ice water. After about a whole day of doing that, the swelling went down just enough for me to get my spike on. I was dosed up with Advil and tape in order to run. I finished second [at prelims]. I had never lost in league before. And I ran a super slow time.”
Sicard went on to finish second in the 110 hurdles at league finals, at which he won the 300 intermediate hurdles. Again, his times were sub-par. He said a dearth of fast hurdlers at CIF Southern Section divisional preliminaries helped him advance to the section finals, and he began to question the viability of his subsequent competition.
“I was going into CIF finals and I hadn’t practiced in a month,” Sicard said. “And every time I ran, it hurt so bad it was as uncomfortable as I’d ever been. I would fall asleep with my foot in ice water and I started to wonder if there was any point in still competing.”
But compete he did.
“I remember standing on the track, dosed up on Advil and I had my tape, and I remember looking down the track,” Sicard said. “I just remember telling myself: ‘This is it. You are either going to [CIF Masters Meet, the qualifying round for the state championships] or you are not.’ I knew if I wanted to go to a good university, track was my ticket. I was like ‘Dude, you have to do something. You have to find a way.’
“Sure enough, I ran a PR of 13.95, my first time ever breaking 14 seconds. I had a darn-near broken foot and I PR’ed. I won the 300s that week, went on to double at Masters, won the 300s and was fourth in the 110s at state and was on state champion relays in the 4x100 and 4x400. And my foot was still blazing hot.”
UCI Coach Jeff Perkins never cooled on Sicard’s potential during the injury scare. His persistence allowed Perkins to win by default what once had been a recruiting battle.
Still, Sicard’s health remained uncertain.
“Even when I came to Irvine, the doctors said they didn’t know if I should run,” Sicard said. “No matter what, when I’m done running, my foot is done for. I will eventually have to get surgery, because the bones didn’t heal right. Because I kept running on it, the bones in my foot are separated and they need to be closer together.”
Sicard, the 2012 CIF state champion in the 110 hurdles, had a strong debut season at UCI. But he fell on the final hurdle at the West Region meet, costing him a chance at advancing to the NCAA championships.
“That was the most devastating fall I’ve ever had,” Sicard said. “It wasn’t the worst physically, but mentally, it broke me down. I cried in the hotel room, because I was so mad about blowing my chance to make nationals.”
The fall, just another hurdle as it turned out, helped add to Sicard’s motivation.
“Lloyd developed nicely last year,” Perkins said. “He wanted to win the conference championship and he was second [in the 110s]. And then he fell at the West Region meet. But that kind of just fueled him. He improved a lot over the summer and was determined to push himself to the next level. He started this season with the PR he finished out with his freshman year, and he just kind of worked his way down [on the stopwatch]. To be honest, running 13.60 last weekend kind of surprised the both of us, because our goal was 13.8 or in the 13.7s.
“I’m comparing him to my last All-American, who was Charles Jock [the NCAA champion in the 800 in 2012] and Jock was ninth and didn’t make the final his sophomore year,” Perkins said. “Lloyd has an opportunity to achieve what Charles could not in his sophomore year.”
Sicard’s recipe for success goes beyond talent, Perkins said.
“He has really good foot speed and he is very good technically,” Perkins said of Sicard, a three-time conference athlete of the week this season. “He is a little more fluid and rhythmic than a lot of other guys who are taller than him. He’s also very aggressive and a very good competitor.
“Honestly, we have a lot of gifted kids who don’t have the type of mind that can focus and understand that, no matter the situation, they are going to find a way to succeed. Lloyd is very good at compartmentalizing and focusing on the task at hand. I’ve seen him do things in practice that I have never seen in 15 years of coaching. The groove he has been in lately has been awe-inspiring. And the similarities I see between Lloyd and Charles are almost scary.”
Sicard said fear will never keep him from pursuing his goals on the track.
“You have to move forward, no matter how downward you are going,” Sicard said. “You will never know if you will get there, unless you keep going. So, never give up. You may not have immediate success, but you just can’t give up.”