Harrison takes 2nd in first collegiate decathlon
Harrison Williams is at it again.
Williams, a Memphis University School graduate who won nine state championships and set numerous state records during his junior and senior years, scored 7,518 points to finish second in the decathlon at the 88th Clyde Littlefield Relays at the University of Texas on March 26.
Williams, now a freshman at Stanford, finished second to Evan Weinstock, a Brown graduate who now serves as a Stanford volunteer coach. Weinstock finished with 7. 557 points.
Williams’ total was just 74 points from the Stanford record, held by the legendary Bob Mathias, who set the mark in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.
Williams had the record within reach heading into the final event, the 1 , 500 meters. But despite running a 4:36.83, a personal best by over four seconds, he fell a little short.
“Overall, it was a pretty solid meet for me,” Will iams told GoStanford. com. “My main goal com- ing in was just to get a score that would qualify me for the NCAAs so I’m pretty happy with t hat. But I definitely left a lot of points out there.”
The top 24 nationally will qualify for the NCAA Championships June 10-13 in Eugene, Ore. and both Willia ms a nd Sta nford multi- events coach Michael Eskind are confident the score will hold up. Williams’ next decathlon is scheduled to be at the Pac-12 championship meet May 9-10 in Los Angeles but there’s a chance Williams could skip that competition to focus on his two specialty events, the pole vault and the 110 hurdles.
Williams broke the U.S. high school decathlon record last year, scoring 7, 760 points while f i nishing sixth at the IAAF World Junior Championships. The Littlefield meet, however, was his first decathlon with collegiateweight throwing implements and higher hurdles.
And despite battling an upset stomach a couple days before the meet that caused him to lose plenty of sleep, his total easily surpassed the Stanford freshman record of 7,007 points.
It’s difficult not to feel t he presence of Colin Kilgore at a Christia n Brothers baseball game.
There’s a cross on the fence as you enter Giacosa Field and another one on the wall in straightaway center. Players wear caps with “CK15” stitched on the back while Kilgore’s jersey hangs in the dugout.
He’s honored with a page in the program and remembered in the pregame prayer.
The Brothers are gradually moving on without their teammate who died in a Feb. 14 car accident that also killed lacrosse player Christophe Kesterson. And they’re doing it the best way they know how: by winning games.
CBHS — ranked first in the state in D2-AA and first in The Commercial Appeal’s Dandy Dozen — improved to 13-0 last Friday, taking advantage of some ECS wildness to win 6-2.
They later made it 14 with a 8- 0 victory over Highland Park-Ill.
“I t hink we’re doing great,” said senior James Muse, who would have been tea mmates wit h Kilgore at the University of Memphis next season.
“We’re always going to think about Colin. We always talk about him and pray for him every day. We’re ra l ly i ng a round him.”
Said Brothers coach Buster Kelso, “I t hi nk they’re doing about as well as can be expected. We’re not going to forget him ... he’s a part of this program.
“Last night (Vanderbilt signee) Walker (Grisanti) said something and I looked at him and said, ‘You know, that’s the kind of thing Colin would say.’ And he laughed and said, ‘You know, coach, you’re right.’”
Kilgore would certainly have been proud of the Brothers’ effort against ECS. One day after pushing across four runs on just two hits against Brighton, CBHS got six runs against ECS on just three hits.
CBHS got two in the bottom of the first on a Zane Phillips groundout and a bases-loaded walk to Jack Bennett. ECS tied it in the top of the third before the Brothers got three in their half of the inning as Bennett, Nick Traylor and Landon Kelly drew consecutive bases-loaded walks.
“Against Brighton, we really struggled (at t he plate),” said Kelso. “Today t hey weren’t t hrowing strikes and we were patient. We’ve been getting timely hits, but we haven’t been able to put hits together.
“Right now, we’re just finding a way.”
The bats may still be rounding into form, but the pitching has been terrific. Michael Feather (30), a junior left-hander, allowed just four hits in a complete game. Tyler Walton, also 3- 0, got the win over Highland Park.
“Our hitting will come a r ou nd ,” s a i d Muse . “We’re still confident, even if we fall behind. And our pitching has been stellar.”
LOCAL TRACK STARS SHINE IN NEW ORLEANS
A day a f ter helpi ng Memph i s Un i ve r s i t y School record the fastest 3, 200 -meter relay t i me in the nation, Carlton Orange and Terrell Jackson were in the spotlight again last Saturday at the Sugar Bowl Invitational in New Orleans.
Orange, the meet’s outstanding male performer, won the 800 in 1:50.94, just ahead of Jackson’s 1:51.17. Those times are the fastest and second-fastest high school performances in the nation this year.
Last Friday, the MUS 3, 200-meter relay team of Pierce Rose, C.J. Turner, Orange and Jackson ran a 7:45. 51. The time was one second off the state record.
Whitehaven’s Maia McCoy was named the meet’s outstanding female performer after leading t he Tigers to a r unner-up finish. The two-time defending AAA state champ in both the 100 and 200 meters won both of those events and anchored the winning 1 ,600-meter relay team and the 800 relay team, which came in second.