Micah Williams set wind-legal PRs en route to winning both Pac-12 titles. Photo by Cierra Hitner
Oregon sophomore Micah Williams pulled even with the field as he rounded the curve in the first 100 meters of the Pac-12 Championships 200-meter final and brought himself into the lead at the homestretch.
Williams could feel Stanford freshman Udodi Onwuzurike next to him in the final meters. The sound of the crowd fell away — he said he was “dying” in the final push to the finish line. Williams finished 0.04 seconds ahead of Onwuzurike.
“At the end when I crossed, I didn’t even know that I won,” he said, and mimed a double take to check the clock. “Then I was like, ‘Holy shit, I won!’”
Williams ran the 200 in a personal best of 20.05 seconds and became the Pac-12 champion in both the 200 and the 100 on Sunday. He also broke a meet record in the 100 by 0.04 seconds when he finished in 9.93, the sixth-fastest collegiate 100-meter time.
He said he didn’t have specific times in mind going into the final.
“I wanted to get those 10 points in both events,” he said. “I just wanted to contribute to the team.”
In the preliminary races earlier this weekend, Williams had the fastest 100-meter time and the third-fastest 200-meter time. USC senior Davonte Burnett, the defending Pac-12 champion in the 100 and 200 meters, scratched the 200 and finished third in the 100.
Williams’ first event of the day was the 4×100 relay. The relay team, which included Rieker Daniel, Will Mundy and Xavier Nairne, suffered a messy handoff after the third leg and finished third in 39.39. USC won in 38.60 with Arizona State 0.68 behind.
“The fact that we got the team title meant more to me,” Williams said.
An hour after the relay, Williams and Nairne were back at the start line for the 100 and finished 1-4, which was their predicted ranking from prelims. Nairne ran the 100 in 10.27, finishing 0.05 behind Burnett. Onwuzurike got second place in 10.17.
Williams’ time of 9.93 improved his non-wind-aided personal best by 0.07. He knew a time around 9.90 was possible after he ran the 100 in a wind-aided 9.83 at the Mt. SAC Relays last month.
“I wanted to show everyone that I could do it,” he said. “I wanted to show that I could do it without the wind.”
Williams said the 200 felt hard because his events were only 30 minutes apart and he didn’t have time to rest. But he added that he felt more sore and more nervous earlier in the weekend, around Friday and Saturday. The cloudy skies hadn’t helped.
But Sunday was sunnier, and Williams said his mom and his grandma were at Hayward to support him.
“I knew I had it in me,” he said. “I was waiting for the right time.”
