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Mitchell's Williams eyes 3A-3 district title

Staff file photo by BILL WARD

Williams, a junior, ran a 20:19 to win the Sunshine Athletic Conference meet to advance.

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By LARRY BUGG

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 3, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Mitchell High cross country coach Jeff Leavey must feel blessed.

The veteran cross country coach has an elite runner and a very smart young woman in his number one harrier, Kelli Williams.

Williams, a junior, ran a 20:19 to win the Sunshine Athletic Conference. Wiregrass Ranch freshman Nikita Shah was second just one second behind Williams. In third was defending SAC champ, Ariel Grey who had a 20:32 time.

They were running on a sugarsand-laden course on a very warm morning.

However, the relative newcomer to running was able to come up with a time that most runners would be happy with late in the season.

She will have another big race this week.

Thursday, Williams will be trying for her second straight district title but in a different class.

Williams will be running at Crews Lake Park at 4:30 p.m. in the Class 3A-District 3 Meet. Those who qualify as teams or individuals advance to the Class 3A regional Nov. 13 at Withlacoochee Park in the Dade City area.

Williams is making a habit of collecting district tiles.

She started running just last year and won her Class 4A district title at Starkey Park. She was 24th at the Class 4A state meet.

She appears poised to become one of Pasco County's top female harriers.

"There are some very talented girls out here,'' Williams said of her competition at Mitchell's meet.

Williams used to ride horses but quit when she started running.

She said she used to play games with the boys in gym class and that led her to start running.

"They said 'you should do track,''' Williams said. "I tried out for track and did cross country to stay in shape for track. I found that I like cross country a lot more."

An excellent student, Williams said she would love to go to either Duke University or the University of Florida. Eventually, she said she wants to work in either sports or orthopedic surgery.

"I would go professional (as a runner) if I was good enough,'' she said. "I have a long way to go."

Her coach said she has the tools to excel in several areas.
Leavey feels Williams has the complete package for a successful person.

"She is physically gifted,'' said Leavey. "She started running the 400 (meters in track). She is a physically talented person. Also, she is in honors classes. She is intellectually talented too. Those two come together. The third piece it takes is to be tenacious. That's something she has developed. It's something you can't really coach.

"She is one of the Einsteins of the world. She is a smart kid and she has all the tools. She gets in (to college) anywhere she wants."

Leavey said he has coached elite athletes before but Williams is a special individual.

"It's just a great joy to coach young people that dedicated," he said. "There is a symbiotic relationship in that she enjoys my enthusiasm and I enjoy her enthusiasm.

"Together, our enthusiasm feeds off each other. It's a symbiotic relationship that is a joy to both of us."
Leavey also said Williams needs to become meaner if she is going to be one of the state's top runners.

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