RallyNorth.net

Clearing life’s hurdles

Monday, May, 05 By Alan Siegel
Staff writer

Moments after falling during a practice run last spring, Josue Henriquez popped up, balled his fist, and punched a hurdle.

"I was so ticked," he said, using more colorful language than that.

So was assistant coach Nick Collopy.

"The hurdle," Collopy informed him, "still beat you."

The image was symbolic. The volcanic Henriquez used to attack obstacles blindly. Now, he's learning to vent his steam. Now, when his temper fires up like a blast furnace, he forces himself to cool down.

"I just have to take a deep breath, and go with the flow," said Henriquez, whose 15.5 in the 110-meter hurdles is the second best time in the region this season.

The Methuen High junior is still fueled by emotion. Boys basketball coach Rich Barden saw it daily this winter. He worked out with Henriquez, who at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, looks like he could play wide receiver for Florida or Tennessee.

"When he's at the gym, he pushes his body beyond the threshold," Barden said. "You know you're going to be sore tomorrow."

The 17-year-old likens racing to, "a big fight." It's how he approaches his life, which has been lined with hurdles.

It began in the fifth grade, when Henriquez's parents got divorced.

"Everything," he said, "just went away."

Henriquez's father quickly faded from the picture. Today, they see each other twice a month, but their relationship is fractured. Henriquez wishes things were different, but in the end, he knows his future is up to him.

"It's just me," he said. "I have to wake myself up and just do it. (Track) might be my ticket to college."

Collopy, a former assistant football coach, knew Henriquez had potential the moment he spotted him on the Nicholson Stadium turf. Tall, athletic and fast, Henriquez was a natural. Collopy figured he'd be a good fit for the hurdles.

The learning curve was steep. "He didn't do so well (at first)," Collopy said.

As a sophomore, Henriquez took his share of falls. The scars on his legs proved it.

By this winter, the junior finally hit his stride. He won the MVC indoor title in the 55-meter hurdles and earned Eagle-Tribune Honorable Mention All-Star status.

"His best days are ahead of him," Collopy said. "It's up to him to walk the walk, to get there."

…

Underneath his gold chain, underneath his neatly shaved chin-strap beard, underneath the bravado is a teenager balancing school, sports and girls. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he struggles.

"It's a lot of drama," Henriquez said with a smile.

His mother Maria, a teacher's assistant in Lawrence, watches her son closely. She knows he would benefit from a permanent father figure, someone to attend track meets, to go to football games, to simply offer support.

"He needs a man around," said Maria, whose has two younger children, Edward, 12, and Vanessa, 15. "Someone to say, 'Josue, I feel proud of you.' "

At the moment, it's just not reality.

"This is life," Maria said. "There is nothing you can do about it."

But Henriquez makes due. Last year, his friend Edwin Gonzalez, a basketball co-captain, helped Henriquez connect with Barden, a former Methuen High and Merrimack College basketball star. In preparation for the spring season, they worked out together at Choice Fitness club.

In the weight room, Barden reiterated, Henriquez was a ball of fire.

"When it comes to motivation and intensity," Gonzalez said, "he just has it."

That's why Barden made Henriquez an unofficial member of the basketball team.

On occasion, he delivered pregame pep talks.

"He came in (to the locker room) a few times, wished the guys luck," Barden said. "It's something, as coaches, we try to stay away from. But he's a kid that can handle it."

…

Henriquez loves to leap over hurdles, both on the track and off.

"If you were to tell him, 'You can't do something,' he'll try to do it," Gonzalez said.

Two years ago, without much basketball experience, he went out for the freshman team.

"You're not going to make it," his friends told him.

Undaunted, he replied, "Of course, I'll make it."

And he did. He didn't play much that season, but he proved his buddies wrong.

"He'd go all out," Gonzalez said, "even though he wasn't that good."

The way he plays basketball is a perfect summation of Henriquez's personality.

"When people box him out, he starts yelling," Gonzalez said. "He's always screaming. He's goofy. He makes jokes, he's supportive. He just loves sports."

Still, on bad days, Henriquez feels misunderstood by some.

"They don't know what I've been through," he said.

But he knows his background is no excuse for losing his cool. That's why he's learning to control his temper, so he can avoid a repeat of last year's hurdle-punch.

To focus before races, he breathes deeply and listens to DMX and Li'l Wayne.

"It pumps you up," Henriquez said. "When I'm in my zone, I don't worry."

In a chaotic world, track is a constant. Henriquez is well aware of that fact.

"The stability you're going to get," head coach Roger Fuller said, "is here."

Henriquez hopes his passion will pay off. He hopes to attend college.

"That," Maria said, "is my wish."

He hopes track is his ticket there.