Asafo-Agyei Is Driven by a Dream

A race that initially caused him nightmares has turned into a source of motivation for Raphael Asafo-Agyei of Chino Don Lugo High.

Asafo-Agyei, who is entered in the boys’ 500- and 880-yard runs in the L.A. Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Sports Arena on Saturday, cost himself a state title in the 800 meters last June when he threw up his arms in celebration with five meters left in the race at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.

Asafo-Agyei, who has signed with USC, appeared to have the race won after passing leader Matt Bates of Los Gatos with 40 meters to go. But he eased up just enough in his final strides to allow Tykie Harris of San Gorgonio to edge past him and win in a slowish 1 minute 53.80 seconds.

Harris had finished well back of Asafo-Agyei in the Southern Section Division I final and Masters Meet the previous two weeks, but his exaggerated lean at the finish line gave him a victory margin of .07 seconds in the state final.

“I had nightmares about that race for a little while,” Asafo-Agyei said with a laugh. “I honestly thought I had it won, but then when he dove across the finish line, I was really surprised. I didn’t know what happened.”

Asafo-Agyei, the son of a Ghanan father and a half-Scottish, half-Ghanan mother, was disappointed by his “stupidity,” but hasn’t been dwelling on it.

In fact, the 6-foot-3, 175-pound senior has watched videotape of the state final numerous times.

“I’ve done it just to remind myself what happened,” he said. “To see what I could have done differently in the race.... There is a part of me that is sad that it happened, but there is also a part of me that is glad it happened because I learned a lesson.”

Asafo-Agyei’s performances certainly didn’t suffer after his first loss of the season.

He ran 1:51.86 to finish fifth against a national-class field in the Golden West Invitational at American River College in Sacramento a week after the state meet and clocked a career-best 1:50.70 to finish sixth in the National Scholastic outdoor championships at North Carolina State a week later.

He is the third-fastest returning 800 runner in the nation and hopes to run in the 1:46-1:47 range this year.

The national high school record of 1:46.45 was set by Michael Granville of Bell Gardens in 1996.

“His workouts have been phenomenal,” Don Lugo Coach Don Salyers said about Asafo-Agyei.. “He’s feeling really, really good. He’s much stronger than he was last year.”

Asafo-Agyei expects to run in three or four events, counting relays, in the L.A. Invitational, but he’s not sure if he will run in both the 500 and the 880.