Williams Reps Miami at NCAA Championships
EUGENE, Ore. – Samantha Williams will represent the University of Miami track and field program at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The senior All-American will compete on Friday in the women’s triple jump beginning at 6:25 PM EST.
“I am extremely excited for Sam as she competes in her final meet as a Miami Hurricane,” Miami director of track and field and cross country Amy Deem said. “She has been jumping very well as of late and that is giving her tremendous confidence going into the NCAA Championships.”
Williams qualified for this year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships after finishing fourth among 48 competitors in the NCAA East Preliminary with a season-best mark of 42’ 3.50”. The Jamaica native qualified for the NCAA finals for the second consecutive season.
“I think she is ready,” Miami jumps coach Gavin O’Neal said. “I think she has done everything she has needed to do. I think the training and everything has worked out to this point. It has gotten her peaked and ready to go.”
The field in the women’s triple jump is loaded with talent as threeof the top four finishers from 2012 are again at the top entering the 2013 championships, all ranked in the top three. But Williams is not to be forgotten after placing seventh at least year’s NCAA Championships.
“I think our expectations are to duplicate what we did last year, which is trying to be All-American again,” O’Neal said. “She has had a really good run throughout the indoor season and really cleaned up her technique for outdoors, which showed up at regionals. She is fast and bouncy right now and she is ready to go. It is going to be up to her making a decision that she really wants this.
While the competitor in Williams is certainly driving her as she heads into the NCAA Championships, O’Neal believes she is drawing extra inspiration from the fact that it will be her final collegiate meet.
“I think she has been thinking about that,” O’Neal said. “I think a lot of people think about their senior year and get distracted by life and a lot of other things or they reminisce and they go in and are nervous. She doesn’t seem nervous at all. She seems really aggressive and ready to get after it and make it the best NCAA meet she can in her last go around.”
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