Williams Eyes Indoor All-America Honors

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A good season could turn into one of the very best in Central Michigan women's track & field history for Nadia Williams on Friday night.

Williams, a junior from Mount Horeb, Wis., will competed in the long jump in the NCAA Indoor Championships, hosted by Alabama-Birmingham's at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The women's long jump is scheduled to begin at 7:10 p.m. on Friday. The Championships will be conducted on both Friday and Saturday. Williams is the lone Chippewa to have qualified.

ALL-AMERICA
Each event at the indoor championships comprises 16 athletes. The top eight finishers in each event earn All-America honors, while those finishing ninth-16^th are named Second Team All-America.

In short, it's an exclusive field, perhaps more exclusive than any in college athletics.

"The crazy thing about indoor is that it's the hardest NCAA Championship to make because there's so many student-athletes that compete in track and field and so few actually make it to the NCAA meet," said CMU director of track & field Jenny Swieton, who last week was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Chippewa women to their first league title since 2004. "When you make it to indoors, that's like big time."

A SEASON TO REMEMBER
Williams served notice that she coiuld be in for a big year when she set the program record with a leap of 21 feet, ½ inch at CMU's Jack Skoog Open on Jan. 11. It was the Chippewas' second meet of the indoor season, and the distance remains the fourth-longest in the nation this year.

Williams added first-place finishes in the long jump at both the Notre Dame Invite and the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational, before last week placing first in the MAC with a leap of 20 feet, 8 inches.

Williams also broke a second program record, this one in the 200-meter dash, in the MAC Championships, finishing in 23.84 seconds in placing second. It marked the second time in less than 24 hours that Williams had broken the program record in the event; she ran a 24.12 in a preliminary race.

She also ran a leg on CMU's 4x400 relay team that placed third at the MAC Chmpionships.

"This season was a breakthrough for me and for my teammates," Williams said.

CHAMPIONSHIP
Florida State's Rougui Sow is the top seed in the long jump with a season-best 21-3 ½. Between Willaism and Sow are Jordan Gray of Kennesaw State (21-2) and Yanis David from Florida (21-2 1/2).

"Anybody who makes the meet the meet has a chance to win," Swieton said. "Nadia looked so good at MAC. She only took three jumps and jumped (20-8). I think she has a shot to go in there and do something really big."

Said Williams: "I'm just going to go in and have some fun."

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Players Mentioned

Nadia Williams