PSU freshman sprinter Josh Piles began running at the age of six. He hated it.
Pikes was following family tradition. His mother, Stacy, ran hurdles in high school and his maternal grandfather, James Hubbard, still holds high hurdles records at San Fernando High School.
"I hated it. I hated it so much. I wasn't the fastest guy and it was so much work," recalled Pikes, who is from the Los Angeles/San Fernando Valley area of southern California.
So he coasted. "It turned out that I had some natural talent." And at age 12, he began to get faster. He began running hurdles in the ninth grade. "But I hated track so much I just didn't get my talent to really come out fully," said Pikes.
Still, his mother, a manager with Bank of America, had emphasized that education didn't end without a bachelor's degree, so college was a must and a sports scholarship seemed the best way to get there.
As a high school sophomore, he thought football would be his ticket. He was a fast six-footer who liked catching passes. Unfortunately, he also was concussion prone, so he had to rededicate himself to track. His hurdle times continued to be mediocre, so he wasn't getting much attention from college coaches.
Then, he broke his hip as a junior…and that's what turned things around.
"It was the lowest part of my life," he said. He thought his dreams of track and college were over.
His mother and grandmother, Ava Hubbard, motivated him to come back. "They motivated me to work out and went online to look for exercises and things I could do to get stronger."
His comeback was slow. He started running four months after the break, at the beginning of his senior year. He returned to hurdling
two months later and he was motivated.
He ran a 21.88 in the 200 hurdles and suddenly started hearing from college coaches. "PSU called me and offered me a scholarship" and he considered Sacramento State.
"We actually recruited him as a hurdler, but when he began doing drills, they bothered his hips. So, we took hurdles out of the equation and let him sprint. I think he has the potential to be a great long sprinter and he may end up there. But, for now, he's doing very well in the short sprints," said first-year head track & field coach
David Hepburn.
Indeed he has done well.
In his first meet as a Viking, the Vandal Invitational and Multi Events in January, Pikes ran a 6.90 second 60-meter dash and 21.87 seconds in the 200 meters. Both marks vaulted him into third place all-time for those events at Portland State.
Having hit those marks as a freshman, he's far from satisfied. He likes the 100- and 200-meter sprints best and doesn't think he'd make a great 400 runner. "That takes real endurance and my stamina isn't the greatest. I could work up to it though…", he said not wanting to rule anything out.
He has several goals for himself as a Viking.
"My first goal is to get my degree…and maybe get a master's degree. That's what I came here for." He's currently interested in law enforcement, but that may change. "In one of my courses, I realized that law enforcement involves seeing a lot of the bad things in life and I'm not sure about that," he said.
His second goal is "to be one of the greatest Portland State Athletes ever." Becoming the third fastest in the 60 meters was "cool", but he's not going to be satisfied until he has the 60-meter record, and perhaps some others.
He credits that broken hip with making him strong and getting him to where he is now.
"I wasn't the fastest in high school. My times were mediocre. I had natural talent and I was letting that carry me. I never really pushed myself. That fracture forced me to push myself. Natural talent was not enough," Pikes said.
And Hepburn thinks he may have the talent and work ethic do reach his goals.
"He comes to work every day trying to improve and that's our team motto this year…'get better every day'," he said. "Our expectations are that as long as he continues to be a hard worker, he'll break some records here and in the future, he could be a Big Sky champion."
