Senior Shailah Williams would do whatever it takes to help her team. With the 2016 New Jersey Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship on the line, that meant the captain entering in five events. And if it was up to her, it would have been six.
“I knew I could do it, my coaches knew I could do it, my team had faith in me,” Williams said. “For me to go out there and take the pressure for everybody, I knew I had to do it.”
Thanks in part to the efforts of Williams and other clutch athletes down the stretch on Monday, Feb. 22, at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Athletic Complex at Staten Island, the Rowan women’s track and field team emerged as NJAC champions for the fourth straight season.
Williams won each event she took on: the 200 meter (25.53), 60 meter (7.63), 400 meter (57.34), high jump (5′ 2.25″) and as a member of the 4×400-meter relay (3:58.24).
It was in the preliminary trials of the 60, kicking the proceedings off, that the senior hit a new meet record time of 7.60. The previous best time was also set by Williams, two years prior, at 7.67.
“The girl is a beast. I knew when [the team] saw her going like that they would rally,” says head coach Derick Adamson.
Stepping up at a crucial time seemed to be a theme for the Profs Monday night.
Junior Claire Corbett anchored the 4×800 meter relay and ensured first place for the team, despite not being originally chosen to participate in the event. Prior to that event, and the 4×400 relay, Rowan was up just one-and-a-half team points over second-place The College of New Jersey.
“I guess I looked at it as since this is the biggest meet for our entire team, I had to go out there and give it my all in a sense,” Corbett, who also had an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships qualifying time of 2:20.65 in the 800 meter, said. “I know it means a lot to the seniors, so it’s good to see for their final year for them to come out on top.”
Adamson attributed the team’s success to a pre-meet plan. He laid out which person would be in which event, and how the team would most effectively score points. The coach saw the contributions across the board.
“It’s a team effort,” Adamson said. “I told them all, we win, we win together. We go down, we all going down together. This is the way we operate. I’m proud of them. They threw everything at us today and we fought back.”
Individual titles
60 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, High jump
Shailah Williams
60 meter hurdles
Aspen McMillan
4×200 meter relay
McMillan, Nia Lawrence, Ebonique Jones, Lexxus Matos
4×400 meter relay
Amanda Brown, Williams, McMillan, Brianna Angellella
4×800 meter relay
Claire Corbett, Vanessa Valdes, Catherine Dougherty, Courtney Muraczewski
Distance medley
Lisa Leszcynski, Jeimi Chamalian, Muraczewski, Dougherty
Triple jump
Jewel Brown
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