Whiz Kid: Narricka Williams

Four years ago, track coaches at Hillsborough High School had to search for events to put Narricka Williams in.

These days, they're amazed by how many different things she can do.

Williams is a senior and the captain of the Hillsborough girls team. She has polished her running form over the years and passionately strived to catch the eye of college coaches.

This weekend, she'll get another chance to show off her skills at the Steinbrenner Invitational held at the University of South Florida, one of the biggest meets of the season.

"This weekend has been on the top of my priority list," Williams said. "I've been saving some energy to have a good performance in this meet."

Williams is a true sprinter. Her favorite events are the 110 meter hurdles and short distance events where she can use her speed rather than stamina to beat her opponents. She is also a  member of the Terriers' devastatingly fast 4X400 relay team.

Coaches have separated Williams and two of her teammates, Ciarra Hawkins and Jorian Ordway, from the rest of the girls during practices so that they can train with the boys team.

"You have to have a passion for this to succeed and we have that," Williams said. "Some of the other girls have to be pushed. The three of us compete in practice the same way we compete in a meet."

Williams hopes to attend the University of Miami where she will pursuit a degree from the School of Architecture.

For coach Jean Wiser, the development of Williams over the years has provided her not only with a reliable sprinter, but an athlete whose talents are still being uncovered .

"We just found out she could do the triple jump," Wiser said. "We put her in there just to try it and she jumped 36 feet. That's good because we're always lacking at long jump, high jump and triple jump. Now we have one more person for at least the triple jump."

Assistant coach Hassan Wajd has worked with Williams over the four years. He has trained her on everything from how to get over the mental challenge of the hurdles to the way she moves her arms when she runs. Despite her improvements in those areas, he believes Williams is on a path to success because of who she is.

"She got a lot faster over the years," Wajd said. "She has taken a second off her hundred time in the last year. What makes her successful is that she does what she is asked to do. You can ask her to go sit on the field goal post and she'll try. Her freshman year she couldn't really do much. A lot of her success is her willingness to work and the way she listens. You can't ask for better than that in an athlete."

Hillsborough as a team has won the last five district tournaments that they have competed in. They recently picked up their first win at a meet this season on Mar. 15 against Jefferson and King high schools.

Wiser likes her team's chances at districts once again, but fears she may not have the athletes to make a serious run at the state level.

"We're really strong in all of the sprint events and we' ve got some girls that can do well with distance running but you have to have a complete team doing well in all the field events also to win the state championship," Wiser said. "We're a small team and we have to compete with flag football season. I used to have 40 or 50 girls on my team and now I have a lot less so it makes it hard."