When Adam Khriss arrived in the United States from his native Morocco, he knew he wanted to be involved in sports.
“I wanted to get involved in swimming, because I loved to swim,” Khriss said. “I played soccer in Morocco, so I thought that could be good soccer player.”
Khriss was also involved in gymnastics as a youngster in Morocco, so he thought that was also a possibility when he moved with his father and sister to Secaucus when he was 14 years old.
“I only spoke Arabic and French,” Khriss said. “I didn’t know any English. I couldn’t speak to anyone. I felt really silly not knowing how to speak here, so I wanted to learn on my own.”
So how did Khriss learn?
“I listened to music and watched movies,” Khriss said. “I watched movies with subtitles because I wanted to know if I saw the word right.”
Incredibly, after just a short time, Khriss learned a new language.
“I guess it took about four or five months,” Khriss said. “I just wanted to learn it as quick as possible. If it was important to me, then I listen and pick things up. That has happened to me both as an athlete and as a person.”
At the same time in school, Khriss heard some of his classmates speaking about track.
“I asked, ‘What is track?’” Khriss said. “I didn’t know what it even was. Once I learned what it was, I thought it was pretty cool and I had to try it. I was just going to do it for fun. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Khriss said that he “got beat up a lot” during the early days of track and field.
As a sophomore, Khriss learned about doing the hurdles from friend and teammate Sean O’Brien.
“Sean was doing hurdles,” Khriss said. “He was just learning how to do the hurdles at the same time. He told me that I should do the hurdles because I could run and jump. He thought I was pretty flexible. Sean really worked with me a lot.”
So Khriss became a hurdler. He was asked when he was a freshman what he wanted to achieve as a hurdler.
“I said I was going to run a 43 [second in the 400-meter hurdles],” Khriss laughed.
It was a little farfetched, considering that the fastest 400-meter hurdle times in the entire state this year was 52 seconds.
“I didn’t know what I was talking about,” Khriss said. “I just made up a number.”
But Khriss did show remarkable improvement, going from 73 seconds when he first started to 57 seconds in just one year. As a sophomore Khriss just missed qualifying for the NJSIAA Group I state championships.
“I had a really good year,” Khriss said. “As it turned out, I loved it.”
And soccer became a thing of the past.
“I stopped playing soccer my sophomore year and became a cross country runner in the fall,” Khriss said. “I wasn’t good at it, but I pushed myself hard and gained a lot of stamina that helped me out to run track.”
Khriss began his senior campaign during indoor track with specific goals in mind.
“I wanted to qualify for the [United States Scholastic Nationals in North Carolina] and I wanted to make it to the Meet of Champs.”
But disaster struck in the second meet of the season at Hasbrouck Heights.
“One of the guys running next to me knocked over a hurdle,” Khriss said. “I basically jumped over nothing and landed hard on my arm.”
The injury locked Khriss’ arm at a 90-degree angle for more than a week.
“It was stuck,” Khriss said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen next.”
But Khriss was able to recover in time to compete in the prestigious Penn Relays Carnival at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I recovered quickly,” Khriss said. “I was basically out of shape for the Penn Relays, but even though I was in pain, I just tried to block it all out. I was able to run through it.”
When Khriss competed in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I championships two weeks ago, he wasn’t in top form.
“It was a disappointing day for me,” Khriss said.
Khriss did manage to qualify for the overall Group I championships in three events – the 400-meter dash, the 110-meter high hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles – at Franklin High School in Somerset.
At that meet, Khriss put on a show like no other Patriot runner ever did.
“He was focused and knew what he had to do,” Secaucus head track and field coach Chris Panepinto said. “He ended up getting a PR [personal record] in each event. I was a little concerned coming in, but he was determined.”
Khriss finished third in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 49.65 seconds, destroying his former personal mark and breaking the school record in the process. In the 110-hurdles, Khriss was the 15th seed coming in, but he managed to take fourth in 15.19 seconds.
Khriss’ premier event is the 400-meter hurdles.
“I wanted to break 53, so that’s what I was aiming for,” Khriss said.
Khriss had to settle for 54.64, another school record, but this time, an overall Group I state championship, the first for the school since Keith Birchby in 1990. It had been 28 years since Secaucus crowned an overall Group I champ. It just turned out that this one was the one who knew nothing about track and field until he arrived in Secaucus from Morocco. It’s truly an amazing tale.
“It definitely feels amazing,” said Khriss, who ended his season with a 19th place at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions last Saturday at Northern Burlington High School. “I came from nothing and didn’t know anything. I just want others to know that anything is possible. I’m proof of that. The more work you put in, the sooner you will become successful.”
“I’m super proud of him,” Panepinto said. “I’m really happy for him. He worked hard for this.”
Khriss also had to work to help support himself, so he took jobs as a lifeguard and a cashier at a girl’s clothing store called Prom Girl in Secaucus.
Yes, Secaucus’ top track star worked retail in a girls’ clothing store.
“My Dad (Abdessamad) taught me to be independent,” Khriss said. “It was in a good way. He helped me with so many things. He did so much for me. He helped to motivate me and make me better. It’s what I needed to hear.”
Khriss’ sister, Aya, is also on the Secaucus track and field team. Aya Khriss is a junior. Their mother, Guizlan, remains in Morocco.
One last thing: That kid who came to the United States looking to play soccer? Well, he’s earned a track and field scholarship to the University of Connecticut, where he will major in sports management.
“As long as you work hard, good things will follow,” Khriss said. “I just had faith. That’s what motivated me.”
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
