Millikan High track star Misana Viltz and his father, Theo, have much more in common than just a last name.
Misana, a 6-foot, 155-pound senior, is an outstanding high hurdler who has the fastest time in California this year at a blazing 13.71 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles. Theo, an outstanding athlete who played football at USC and one year in the NFL, was also a two-time Pac-8 high hurdles champion in 1964-65.
Both are bright, well-spoken men who share a love of life and understand the value of a good education as well as an appreciation for track and field. Soon, however, there will be at least one jarring exception to the string of similarities. Viltz, who fondly recalls his father taking him to USC football games every Saturday when he was a youngster, will be going to UCLA on a track scholarship.
“Originally, I wanted to go to USC because my dad went there,” Viltz said. “He played football there, so as a kid we always had tickets for the game. As a child, I remember getting every jersey autographed. So I wanted to go there.
“It just didn’t work out for USC, but UCLA is a good situation for me. It’s a great school, and they have a great track program there.”
And just how does his dad feel about this?
“My dad is happy for me,” Misana said. “Even though they’re rivals, he knows UCLA (has) a great track program. He told me after I decided that he built his legacy at USC, so now it’s time for me to build mine at UCLA.
“He’s happy, but I know he wishes I was at USC. He doesn’t say anything, but I just know,” Viltz adds with a smile that says it’s all OK regardless.
In the meantime, the younger Viltz is working on the legacy he’s leaving at Millikan High.
Contrary to what might be expected, Viltz did not set out to follow in his father’s footsteps. He wanted to be a sprinter, not a hurdler, but he did both until he realized as a sophomore he was better at hurdling.
“Somehow, I just kept hurdling as well as sprinting until my sophomore year. I won the Moore League varsity hurdles, and then I was the only sophomore to make it to the CIF Masters Meet. I was stoked when that happened and I knew the hurdles would be my event.”
The early training he got from his father, the extra training he gets from hurdles coach John Hall, who works with a number of Moore League standouts, and his own natural ability have combined to make Viltz a very special prep high hurdler.
“His teammates call him ‘Silk’ because he’s so smooth going over the hurdles,” his dad said, chuckling. “He has that special ability to get over the hurdles.
“We’re different physically. I was more of a power hurdler. He’s more of a speed hurdler.”
Viltz looked like he might win a state title last year after turning in a personal-best 13.97 while finishing second in the 110-meter high hurdles at the Arcadia Invitational. A week later, however, he suffered a toe injury at the Mt. SAC Relays and struggled through the rest of the season. After he finished third at the CIF Masters Meet and then second at the CIF State Meet in 14.08, Viltz discovered he had been running with a broken toe.
“I just kept getting slower, it felt like, after Mt. SAC,” Viltz said. “I was in a walking boot for six weeks after they found out what it was. I didn’t know it was broken. Ice would help. I just kept trying to run through it.
“This year, I’m healthy and I’ve been able to get under 14 a lot. I feel good going into the bigger meets.”
Indeed, Viltz has run under 14 seconds in five meets, including his lifetime best 13.71 at the Mt. SAC Relays and a 13.81 last week in the CIF-SS Division I prelims. He’ll be going for his first CIF title Saturday at Cerritos College.
After that comes the Masters Meet, also at Cerritos College, and the State championships in Fresno before he caps his high school career with three early-summer meets for the nation’s top high school athletes. If Viltz brings down his personal best by a few hundredths of a second, he’ll break into the nation’s all-time top 10 list for high school athletes.
“I just want to win state. I don’t care what the time is,” he said. “After that, if I had a great race and could bring my best down to 13.5 or so that would be great.”
Millikan coach Jerry Naulls will be sad to see Viltz go.
“He’s a great kid. He and I have a lot of fun together,” Naulls said. “It’s like any other athlete you have a good time with, you don’t want to see them go.
“But they have to go and you know that. Hopefully, other kids will want to follow in his footsteps. He and (sprinter) Malik Brown are leaving a legacy for the kids to aspire to.”
After that comes moving up to 42-inch hurdles in college (from high school’s 39) and making the most of his college education.
Said Viltz, “I’m a little nervous about going up to the 42-inch hurdles, but I think I’ll be OK,” while dad says “he’s not going to have any trouble adjusting to 42 inches, plus I think he’s still going to get a little bigger and stronger. He’s a pretty wiry kid.”
And after that? The elder Viltz shares a little secret.
“We have people in the family who did their post-graduate work at USC,” he said. “They’re Trojans. Misana can still be a Trojan.”
Indeed, all destinations seem possible in the Viltz family.
Contact the writer: jimthomas@lbregister.com
