? Tyler Morning Telegraph feature story
? Friday heat sheet
| Junior Teddy Williams brings the country's 10th-fastest 60-meters time into this weekend's national meet. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Junior Teddy Williams will look to put a final stamp on the finest indoor season of his brilliant three-year Roadrunners career this weekend when he competes in the 60-meter dash at the NCAA Championships in College Station.
Williams ? who has maintained his status as one of the country’s best sprinters this winter ? brings the country's 10th-best time, an NCAA automatic 6.61 that he clocked in a runner-up finish to then-national leader Trindon Holliday (LSU) at the New Balance Invitational (Feb. 6), into the two-day meet that will be contested at Texas A&M's Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. That race also included national qualifiers Michael Ray Garvin of Florida State and Evander Wells of Tennessee. He crossed the tape in 6.65 in the prelims at that meet, which was second only to Holliday, and both those marks broke his Southland Conference record set as a sophomore (6.66).
The field of 14 sprinters will compete in two preliminary heats that commence at 5:45 p.m. on Friday. The eight-man final is slated to be run at 6:10 p.m. the following evening and the Tyler native will attempt to join Larry Brooks (two), Leonard Byrd (three) and Justin Youngblood (three) as the only athletes in school history to earn two or more All-America certificates.
"I learned a lot from my experience at nationals last year," said Williams, who finished 13th in the preliminary round and failed to advance to the final. "My training has been going great the last three weeks and I feel like I am fresh heading into this weekend. I know I can compete with the nation's best and am looking forward to representing UTSA in the state of Texas. I hope I can make everyone proud."
"Teddy is ready to go," seventh-year head coach Aaron Fox said. "He is fresh and has been training extremely well the last three weeks. He has the ability to do some special things this weekend and I am looking forward to seeing him compete against the nation's best sprinters."
Williams was named the SLC Indoor Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Track Performer after leading UTSA to its fourth consecutive league championship three weeks ago. He increased his career gold medal count to a half dozen (three indoor/three outdoor) when he became the first athlete in five years to sweep the short sprints at the conference meet (Courtney Boston, Sam Houston State, 2004). Williams clocked a meet record for the second year in a row with his 6.64 winning performance in the 60m. He then circled the track a little less than two hours later in 21.84 to edge UT Arlington’s Cordero Gray by six one-thousandths of second in the deuce. His 20-point performance was second only to Lamar’s Francis Kasagule, who tallied 20.5. A United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association South Central Region Athlete of the Year finalist, he has finished second or better in six of his last eight 60m finals races dating back to his freshman campaign (five gold/one silver).
Williams is just one of two SLC athletes competing this weekend. Lamar's Samuel Kosgei is the other and he will run in the 5k at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Click here for complete meet information and all the action can be seen live on espn360.com.
| Williams 2009 progression chart | |
| 6.88 a (2nd/prelims) | Cherry & Silver Invitational (Jan. 24) |
| 6.65 C S P (2nd/prelims) | New Balance Invitational (Feb. 6) |
6.61 C S A (2nd/final) | New Balance Invitational (Feb. 6) |
6.80 (3rd/prelims) | SLC Championships (Feb. 20) |
6.64 M P (1st/final) | SLC Championships (Feb. 21) |
A - NCAA Championships automatic qualifying mark | |