Micah Williams Dashes To State Record 10.21 To Win 100

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Even as the high school track world buzzed this week over the fastest 100 meters by a prep under any conditions, courtesy of Houston Strake Jesuit's Matthew Boling and his wind-aided 9.98 seconds, a sprinter in Portland, Ore. knew he was capable of doing something special too. 

Micah Williams, the New Balance Nationals Indoor champion in the 60 and a gold medalist in the 4x100 at last summer's IAAF World U-20 Championships, let it rip for the first time this spring in the 100 meters. 

Williams, of Benson Tech OR, ran a wind-legal US#1 time of 10.21 on Friday night at the Nike Jesuit Twilight Relays. 

That's tied for the third-fastest time by a junior in history, the fastest ever by someone west of Texas, and No. 16 all-time. 

The number most in the crowd had in mind was 10.35, which was the Oregon all-time best held by Thomas Tyner (2011). Tyner went on to play for the Oregon Ducks in the 2015 BCS Championship game loss to Ohio State. 

But Williams went much lower -- faster than the Washington high school record of 10.27 by Ja'Warren Hooker in 1997, and also the California record of 10.25 by Henry Thomas in 1985.

"It feels good," Williams said. "It shows that all my hard work is starting to pay off. It's a marker of things I want to do in the future and I just want to keep pushing it farther."

Williams, who had a previous best of 10.37 seconds from 2018, was primed for a breakout race -- and performance to reflect the quality of his training.

"I didn't think he'd run that fast because he's had a big workload with our other sprint coach (John Mays)," Benson coach Leon McKenzie said. "He's been putting in some massive intervals and we said let's get a good solid race here at Jesuit and we'll run faster later on."

Boling's 9.98 came with a +4.2 m/s wind and is no doubt still the performance of the year so far. 

But Williams was happy to get a signifcant PR that shows he is making progress.  

"I drove longer, I stayed patient and I didn't let anyone distract me in my race," Williams said. "All the hard work I'm doing, everyone's starting to see it now."

There Nike Jesuit Twilight Relays produced additonal US#1s. 

Sophomore Nathan Green of Borah ID ran the nation's fastest full mile so far this spring, clocking 4:07.84 and outsprinting Ashland OR junior Evan Holland, who was second with US#5 4:10.11, and Bradley Peloquin of Gig Harbor WA, who ran 4:11.21. 

Lexy Halladay, after twice taking second in the elite girls mile, won it with US#5 4:46.98. Fiona Max, the leader of the Nike Cross Nationals champions from Summit OR, was second with US#6 4:48.30. 

Gretchen Hoekstre from Seaside OR launched a huge PR to win the shot put with US#1 50-1.50. She became the second girl from Oregon to go past 50 feet. 

Tanya Simora of Puyallup WA threw US#4 160-11 to win the girls javelin. 

Joe Nizich of Central Catholic OR moved into a tie at US#3 in the javelin, with 209-2.

There was also excitment in the pole vault, where Tahoma WA senior Zachary Klobutcher edged out Simon Park of South Eugene OR on fewer misses after both cleared 16-9. Both are now tied at US#4.

Tahoma's Aliya Wilson won the elite girls 100 with 11.69 seconds and returned later to anchor her team to a meet-record time in the 4x100 relay with 46.93.

The host school, Jesuit, won a high quality 4x400 relay in 3:18.04, outlasting Oregon City (3:18.98). The Jesuit girls also won the 4x400, with a state-leading time of 3:53.29.