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TOP JOBS

By HAROLD WILSON
Staff Writer

Is it the shoes?

True, Teddy Williams owes a great deal of credit for his run toward prominence to his fleet feet. But not necessarily due to the kind of shoes he wears, but rather what he places inside them before track meets.

Prior to each event, Williams inserts a handwritten scripture inside his spikes to give him extra motivation. Turns out, it helped the relatively unknown teenager become a national sensation in a short time as he shortened his times on the straightaway.

On the heels of an All-American outdoor season, Williams will compete for a spot in the Summer Games in Beijing in the 100-meter dash today at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore.

Williams, a John Tyler alum who just completed his sophomore season at the University of Texas at San Antonio, enters the race tied with the 26th best qualifying mark of 10.16 seconds.

But he also brings a great deal of confidence, and perhaps a helper, after taking the words found in the Bible at Matthew 19:26 — “with God all things are possible”— along with him to meets. His sister, Shaniecia Williams-Harris, a former standout sprinter and hurdler in high school, advised her younger brother to do so prior to last month’s Southland Conference Meet, and the results have paid off since.

“This started with her, my sister,” Williams said of his older sibling, who now lives in Tennessee, but routinely checks on her brother and his performances. “Right before conference she said, ‘I want you to try something: read your Bible and put a scripture in your left shoe and (in your right shoe) put the time you want to run in each race.’ Since then I’ve been achieving (better) times and been more successful.”

The race Williams earned his Olympic Trials bid — the SLC outdoor championships — just happened to be the first and only time Williams-Harris has seen him run in college. At that meet, Williams blazed to first in the 100 with the 10.16 timing and added gold in the 200 and 400 relays that same day.

“She’s on me all day, every day,” he said. “That played the biggest part; she had come from Tennessee to see me run. I wanted to give her a nice show. I dedicated that meet to her and my mother (Patricia Williams).”

Prior to a two-week break leading up to the trials, the season had been a fast and busy one for Williams. In March, Williams reached the indoor nationals, and afterward raced to two solid showing at the Texas Relays and Penn Relays to start the outdoor season. In a span of five weeks, Williams won his three gold medals at the conference meet, captured gold in the 100 at the Midwest Region meet and placed seventh at nationals.

“Letting my body heal up plays a big part,” said Williams, whose hamstring flared up in the semifinals at nationals, and affected him in the finals. “The rest has paid off so much. I’m ready to go, fired up and everything. I’ve been getting constant massages. I’ve got my confidence back. I feel like I’m peaking again.”

The college experience, where Williams has raced against many of the athletes who make up the U.S. Olympic Trials, only benefited him. In the first round at outdoor nationals, Williams edged eventual champion Richard Thompson, a native of Trinidad and Tobago who runs for LSU.

“It’s been great preparation,” said Williams, who has been working out with UTSA sprint coach David Burnett. “It’s helped me get to the next level, get confident in myself and my abilities because I know anything can happen and I can be on the team. Beating the national champion — it showed me I can run with anyone.

“It’s hard enough just to qualify. Then trying to get to the overall Olympics is hard too. Just to know I can compete with them, it makes it that much better.”

At the trials Williams plans to employ the same strategy as previous, albeit lesser meets — take it one race at a time. The top 16 move on to the semifinals, the top eight to the finals and the final three — assuming they have attained the ‘A’ standard — to Beijing.

“I’m going in with the same mindset as if it was conference or nationals and at any given time that I can pop off something nice,” said Williams, who thinks he can lower his personal-best at least one-tenth of a second. “Being the competitor that I am, I feel like I can run with anybody.”

Being only 19, Williams knows the best may lie in the future. If he fails to get to Beijing, he will be a member of the U.S. 23-under national team as they compete next month in Toluco, Mexico at the NACAC Games (North American, Central American, and Caribbean).

“The sky’s the limit,” said Williams, who is majoring in sports marketing. “I just have to stay focused and keep my faith in God and let Him take me where He wants to take me. I’m going to try to shock the world. But either way, I’m either going to China or Mexico.”