Simon Tang is a first-year majoring in Computer Science and Data Science. Born in the Northern Mariana Islands, track has taken Tang around the world, including Guam, Palau, Australia, and now Oberlin, Ohio. Tang grew up with limited resources and coaching on the track and had limited opportunities to race. Now that he’s paired homegrown talent with Oberlin’s coaching, facilities, and packed meet schedule, Tang is putting together a season for the ages and breaking national records in the process.
Breaking a record takes both the skill and the opportunity to do something never done before. Simon Tang has the talent, but growing up in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands in Oceania, he hadn’t yet had the chance to rewrite record books.
“For our school, we didn’t really have any coaches, so I was the coach for my team,” Tang said. “There’s not many opportunities except for the one [outdoor] season that we have.”
Tang, now a first-year sprinter and hurdler at Oberlin, didn’t get his start on the track. He started out playing tennis and trying different sports, but as an all-around athlete, Tang caught the attention of a volleyball coach at his school. Through that experience, he soon discovered that his future was in running.
“I was a multi-sport athlete growing up in a really small place with very few resources,” Tang said. “But one day, one of my other coaches, a volleyball coach, told me to start running because he saw how athletic I was. I just started doing mid-distance, and then I switched over to hurdles and found something that I really loved doing.”
Track opened doors for Tang in the Northern Mariana Islands and throughout the Pacific. He was on the country’s national team and traveled to Guam, Palau, and Australia for meets. As a developing athlete, he was brought on more so for experience than competition, but Tang credits the opportunity to be on the national team for exposing him to elite-level athletes and giving him a better understanding of what it takes to reach those heights.
“It feels kind of like a dream,” Tang said. “I get to travel [for] my sport, the thing that I love. I get to see these amazing people that are the best in the world in track. I saw some crazy people like Jordan Anthony. Noah Lyles was supposed to go, but he didn’t qualify. That was crazy — I got to go to the event and he didn’t.”
What was still lacking, however, was the system in place around him. Tang had very little guidance on his technique, preparation, and strength training, but he also had very few opportunities to even compete. Outside of his short high school outdoor season, Tang was left without the chance to showcase his full potential.
With his graduation from Saipan Southern High School rapidly approaching last year, Tang knew he wanted to continue hurdling and have a shot at breaking Northern Mariana Islands national records. Through the QuestBridge program, which connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with educational opportunities, Tang found Oberlin College and committed to the track and field team.
“I chose Oberlin, but Oberlin kind of chose me, too, and it’s definitely been a good match,” Tang said. “I didn’t expect anything crazy, but Oberlin has exceeded my expectations to where the people are great here, the environment, and the school. It’s not like I’m being pressured to stay here; I actually want to stay here.”
While the talent was always there, the Oberlin coaching and structure have allowed Tang to take massive strides in a short amount of time. The coaching staff, including Head Coach Ben Wach, have emphasized the importance of the weight room and developing explosivity. Running form and style are critiqued in practice, but Tang, who admits he lifted more like a bodybuilder than a track runner back home, now has a framework to develop his acceleration and speed in the gym.
“The coaches keep telling me it’s all about the weight room,” Tang said. “It’s how much power you can get from your body, and if you don’t have that power from the weight room, you can’t transfer it, no matter how good your technique is. If you don’t have the weight room strength, nothing’s going to happen.”
The proper active coaching and facilities, coupled with Oberlin’s packed meet schedule, gave Tang both the ability and the platform to make history. The Northern Mariana Islands native has had his eye on two national records: the 100-meter hurdles and the 400m hurdles.
“I’ve really wanted to break both records for the last two years,” Tang said. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I really didn’t have many opportunities to race. I raced once a year in these competitions [at home]. … So, coming here to Oberlin, having the opportunity to keep racing like every other week or every other month is so much more experience than I could ever have back home.”
At the All-Ohio Championships on April 10, all of Tang’s training converged for a record-breaking day. His experience with the Northern Mariana Islands National Team, his 5 a.m. practices as the coach of his high school team, and his newfound weight room work at Oberlin came together in the perfect storm. Even in warm-ups, Tang felt good.
“The warm-up was almost perfect, and my coach was saying, ‘You’re looking crisp today, let’s do something great,’” Tang said. “And then just getting on that start line, I felt like this is gonna be the race. I felt like it was already in my mind. And then when I was executing it, I felt like my brain shut down. Usually, I think when I’m racing … but during that race, I felt like I was just in the zone.”
Tang shattered his country’s record for the 100m hurdles, breaking the 24-year best time of 17.31 seconds by posting a personal best time of 15.86. He also broke the Northern Mariana Islands record for the 400m hurdles, achieving two goals on the same day and putting himself atop the country’s leaderboards.
Despite the accomplishment, Tang believes this is just the beginning. As for his supporters back home, Tang said his parents are proud, but that they see these records as a sign of what’s to come in his Oberlin track career.
“I’m not saying they expected the record, but they give me such a high standard,” he said. “They know that, even though I broke the record now, it’s just gonna keep going lower because of the person I am. So, I’m just gonna keep working. Yes, they said I can celebrate for now. But it’s not like I’m gonna just take this and put it on a plaque, because there’s still more time, more things to develop, to get better.”
