Oaks Christian track athlete Talin Lewis didn’t spend much time on the track this season. Not because he didn’t compete—the Malibuite just spent a ton of time flying in the air above the surface, grabbing top finishes in the 300-meter hurdles and long jump.
Lewis’ sky-high leaps led to him vaulting off with a CIF Division IV title in both events on May 19 at El Camino College, after signing an athletic scholarship with the University of North Carolina 17 days earlier.
The 2018 high school graduate said winning the championships was a relief because he was recovering from an ankle injury at the beginning of track season.
“I was really surprised to do as good as I did,” Lewis said.
He said committing to join UNC’s track and field team was an easy decision. The 17-year-old is a big fan of the university’s sports teams and basketball great Michael Jordan, the school’s most famous alum.
“I have wanted to go to North Carolina all my life,” said Lewis, who also garnered interest from the track teams at UCLA and Wake Forest.
The future UNC Tar Heel’s jump of 23 feet, 5.25 inches won him the long jump title and his running and bounding over hurdles in 38.07 seconds gave him the 300-meter hurdles championship. Lewis was also a member of the Oaks Christian 4×400 relay team that ran off with a victory in 3 minutes and 19.88 seconds. The triumphs helped the Lions boys’ track team win its third straight CIF crown.
Lewis said the Lions overcame a few injuries in their race for the championship.
“We were just really resilient,” he said. “We stayed together and grinded together. The CIF title was a closer win than we expected it to be at the beginning of the season, but a win is a win. I’m happy about it.”
Lewis wasn’t the only Malibu resident that competed for a CIF championship.
Malibu High pole vaulter Luca Damian placed second in his event with a jump of 13 feet. The senior won the pole vault at the Ventura County Championships with a vault of 14-9.
Damian and fellow Malibu athletes, freshman Alex Sudmann, junior Tso Stephan and senior Alex Romero, finished 23rd in the CIF’s 4×100-meter preliminary round.
Lewis, the UNC signee, won the long jump with a bound of 23-7.75, a personal record, at the CIF-SS Masters at El Camino on May 26. He finished fourth in the 300 hurdles in 38.07 seconds.
He will also participate in junior nationals this summer.
Lewis’ athletic life as a youngster consisted of basketball, AYSO soccer and Malibu Little League baseball. He first tried track as an eighth grader because his dad, hit-making R&B songwriter and producer Terry Lewis, ran the 100- and 200-meter dashes in high school.
The younger Lewis won his first track title before he was in high school. Once at Oaks Christian, he sprinted and jumped his way to quality finishes.
“I just kept getting better and stronger in high school,” said Lewis, who grew from 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-4 in high school. “Now, I’m a three-time CIF champion and three-time individual champion, too.”
The teenager’s CIF-winning long jump was a foot longer than he had previously sprang before, and his 300 hurdles performance at CIF was his fastest time of the spring. The championship competitor believes he can still improve.
“I stay motivated by seeing improvement in my times and my jumps,” Lewis said.
In the long jump, Lewis said he simply thinks, “Do the best I can,” but when lined up against other athletes in the 300 hurdles, he said, “I don’t want to lose.” Lewis won nine races this season, but said his lone loss gnaws at him. After all, it is his favorite event.
“I can run fast and jump high,” he said. “I’m pretty good at it.”
Lewis had impressive showings at the Ventura County Championships and Marmonte League Finals before CIF. He won the 300-meter hurdles, placed second in the long jump and second in the 110 hurdles at the county event. Lewis won the long jump and placed second in the 300-meter hurdles at the league finals.
He said his athleticism and ability to play more than one sport allowed him to out-spring and outrun his competition. The athlete can throw down a variety of thunderous dunks—windmill, between the legs and 360—on the basketball court and averaged 14.3 points and 5.9 rebounds a game for the Oaks Christian basketball team in the Marmonte League last season. Lewis said playing basketball gave certain muscles a break, so he didn’t have the same wear that a year-round track participant might experience.
He expects that to change at UNC. Lewis will probably compete as a decathlete during indoor and outdoor track seasons. He won’t play basketball, so he said a lot of hard work on the track is ahead of him.
Lewis wants to make it to the NCAA Championships and win a title before graduating.
“I want to be as good as I can be,” he said. “I’m ready.”
