Saving Her Best for Last

Marissa Williams Finishes Second in 1,600 and Third in 3,200 at State Track Finals in Clovis

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

For all the milestones and records she set in her remarkable high school career, Marissa Williams had one glaring thing missing from her resume – a medal at the CIF state track and field championships.

Having cemented her legacy as the greatest distance runner in City Section history with record-breaking performances in the 1,600 and 3,200 the week before, Williams was not about to leave Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium empty handed on Saturday.

After placing seventh in the 1,600 and just missing a spot on the podium as a junior she returned to Clovis last weekend determined to make the most of her last chance.

Did she ever!

In one of the most exciting races of the day, the Palisades High senior surprised even herself by shaving a full eight seconds off her personal-best time to finish second in the 1,600 by a mere 55 hundredths of a second, almost catching Amanda Gehrich of Tesoro in the final strides.

“If I had a few more meters I’d want to say yes I could’ve passed her… but I’m not complaining,” Williams said, a huge smile on her face. “I just wanted a medal. I thought I’d get around fifth. I was maintaining contact and I know I have a kick at the end so I tried to save it for the last 200 meters and go all-out the last 50.”

Pre-race favorite Destiny Collins of Great Oak set a blistering pace from the start and led until the final straightaway. Williams ran the first lap in 68 seconds and the second in 71 while tucked in third position behind Collins and Gehrich, who made her move on the final turn. Williams responded in kind, passing Collins and closing within a step at the finish.

Gehrich’s winning effort of 4:39.33 was the fastest in the nation this year and Williams’ 4:39.88 was the second-fastest this year and the fastest ever at the distance by a City runner, shattering the previous mark of 4:45.02 by Kennedy’s Paula Bresnan in 1983.

Williams had barely finished her last post-race interview when she had to scamper back to the awards table to switch medals after mistakenly being given one for the 3,200 instead. When she finally reached the team tent behind the grandstand she was greeted by her future coaches from California, where she’ll head to begin her collegiate career in the fall.

“Marissa ran a super race and really showed her strength at the end,” said Golden Bears assistant coach Chas Davis, who was also on hand to witness Williams take fifth place in the mile at the Arcadia Invitational in April. “I’m anxious to see how she does in our workouts.”

No one was prouder than Pali High distance coach Bob Macias, who predicted a time of 4:38 or 4:39 after watching Friday’s preliminary heats.

“Whether she won or not I knew Marissa could run that because she looked great in practice this week with the guys and she carried out the plan just the way I wanted her to yesterday. I think she proved to herself she could do it.”

Pali High graduation was Thursday night and Williams, still dressed in cap and gown, left immediately after for the four-hour drive north. She was seeded fourth in the 1,600 prelims and found herself in the first heat with Collins in what proved to be a foreshadowing of Saturday’s final.

Learning from last year’s scare, when she was out of a qualifying spot with one lap to go before turning on the speed to take second in her heat, Willliams stayed close to Collins the whole way Friday, finishing second by one-tenth of a second in 4:47.36 and beating her City finals time in the process.

“I wanted to be in the top four – I wasn’t going for time,” Williams said afterwards. “Bob [Macias] was telling me not to let her get too far ahead, make sure you close the gap. I could’ve tried passing her at the end but there was no point. It’s hot and we were both saving ourselves for tomorrow.”

Having pumped herself up to Imagine Dragons’ rock hit “Radioactive” for the 1,600 final, Williams took a more mellow approach with Drake for the 3,200 about two hours later. She raced to the front at the start of the eight-lapper but soon dropped back to the pack, well off the pace set by Davis junior Fiona O’Keeffe, who edged Williams by five seconds to claim the state Division I cross country crown in the fall.

Not wanting to disappoint in her final performance, Williams demonstrated the late speed she’s known for, passing eight runnners on the final lap to place third in 10:20.35 – almost five seconds faster than her prior best of 10:25.02, set last year at Arcadia. Collins won in a national-best 9:53.79.

“There was no strategy for the 3,200,” said Williams, proudly displaying the smiley face drawn on the bottom of a cup of water she got after the race. “I felt it each lap from the second on. I was thinking ‘No, I can’t do that, but when  Amanda started going I had to go too. I think of her as my sister and I just like running with her. I was thinking how happy I’ll be when it’s over.”

Asked if Saturday’s second PR was the period at the end of the sentence, she interjected: “It’s more like the exclamation point!”

Records are made to be broken, but what Williams achieved in four years at Palisades High may never be duplicated. She racked up nine City individual track championships, three City individual cross country championships and four team championships (two in cross country, two in track) for a total of 16 section titles.

Throughout the fireworks show, however, all Williams could think about was going home: “I’m looking forward to watching Netflix and sleeping.”

Several other Pali High athletes competed in Friday’s prelims, but none were able to advance to the finals. Marcellus Cole was in the first flight in the shot put. Freshman Jite Agege suffered a leg cramp on the first turn and had to pull out of her qualifying heat in the 400 meters. The Dolphins’ girls 4×400 relay was disqualified for breaking too soon and the boys 4×400 relay was eighth out of nine teams in its heat with a time of 3:24.66.