Graceville's Williams anchors Tigers' state finish

GRACEVILLE — The Graceville track team didn’t need a full-length bus to carry its eight athletes to the Class 1A state track and field meet.

The Tigers may have needed extra space to haul back all of Mychea Williams’ trophies, though.

Williams won two individual events, anchored a first-place relay team and placed fourth in the high jump to power the Tigers to a fourth-place result in the state meet held at Showalter Field in Winter Park last Friday. Williams posted 35 of the Graceville girls’ 45 points.

“Her whole thing is it’s all about the team,” Graceville track coach Ja’Juan Clark said of Williams. “Whatever she can do to make the team better.”

Williams’ breakthrough performance included first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. She teamed with Brittany Smith, Cierra Mack and Jalisa McSwain to set a school record in the 4x100 relay with a time of 49.66 seconds. Williams added another five points for the Tigers in the high jump, leaping 5 feet, 2 inches. That mark tied the state champion’s best jump, but Williams required more attempts to reach it.

“Being honest, she has raw talent,” Clark said. “Basically that’s the whole thing. She started running track in eighth grade. When I saw her coming out of eighth grade I was like, ‘Wow, she’s running faster than most of the high schoolers.’ I put her on the varsity team since the eighth grade. It’s raw talent combined with a little practice, hard work, and that’s what got her where she is now.”

Williams, 18, endured an agonizing wait before enjoying a first-place finish in the 100 at state. Former Port St. Joe standout Kayla Parker, now competing for the University of Kentucky track team, captured first place in the 100 ahead of Williams for three consecutive years before graduating.

“It made me want to try harder,” said Williams, who wants to continue her track career at the college level. “Actually it pushed me a little because I want to beat her eventually one day. I guess you could say I waited until it was my turn.”

Williams and Daryth Gayles of Melbourne Holy Trinity were neck and neck at the midway point of the 100, but Williams had another surge remaining and pulled away for the victory.

After winning the 200 with a time of 25.46, Williams anchored the 400 relay team. The Tigers were second when Williams took the baton, and she quickly erased the one-stride deficit in front of her. She crossed the finish line 43-hundredths of a second ahead of second-place Holy Trinity.

“You could say she was a few feet ahead of me,” Williams said. “But I knew I was going to catch her.”

Added Clark: “Pretty much throughout the whole year when they ran there wasn’t anybody anywhere around them. Once they got the handoff to Mychae she was by herself. The other three girls, they’re pretty fast as well. At state that was the first time they had anybody running close to their time. … They pushed themselves and broke their seed time (50.11) and broke the school record.”