As a leader of the LSU men’s track and field team, senior pole vaulter Marcus McGehee will provide his insight into the LSU Track & Field program throughout the 2011 season as the Tigers and Lady Tigers join the national championship chase once again. Check back each week as McGehee provides a behind-the-scenes look into the program from an athlete’s perspective in competition, in the classroom and in the community.
Getting to Know Sprinter Horatio Williams
We are having our third meet of the season this weekend at the Randall Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. It’s actually a place we will become quite familiar with indoors since this is our first of three trips to Arkansas in the next month with our most important being the SEC Indoor Championships.
This week really marks the beginning of “travel season.” By that I mean that we are now starting to travel every week, and we only get to train consistently at home three days a week.
And this was actually a very important week for us in our training since Wednesday marked the first time that we have been able to train on our newly renovated track at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium. It was a big multi-million dollar renovation project that is being completed now after starting last summer.
I can’t really describe the mixture of feelings that were going through my mind when I first stepped onto the track, but I think the best thing I could say would be sort of an anxious determination for me. I’m sure the feeling was mutual through the whole team.
Since we are beginning to travel more and now have the opportunity to train on our brand new track, it’s a very critical thing that we get as much work done as possible, not just with the quantity of training, but more importantly the quality of work done. Like I said, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the only days that we have at home, so we have to make them count.
This statement goes for the entire team, and the sprint squad is no exception. Today, I had the opportunity to sit down with Horatio Williams, a transfer from Hinds Community College where he was a five-time junior college All-American in two seasons in 2009 and 2010.
Personally, one of the biggest benefits for me in doing this blog is that I get a chance to interact and build a stronger bond with my teammates, and in doing so, provide the fans with a bit of the same relationship.
With that being said, in my time spent today with Horatio, I could tell that he’s a very relaxed and humble individual that is confident in his abilities.
Horatio has gotten off to a very fast start this season, both figuratively and literally. He actually ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in the 60-meter dash with a PR of 6.61 seconds run in our opener at the Purple Tiger Invitational and also ranks No. 3 in the NCAA in the 200-meter dash with an indoor PR of 20.86 that was run at the Texas A&M dual meet last weekend.
“It doesn’t really matter what my times are right now,” Williams said. “The only time they matter is at the championship meets.”
The Razorback invitational starts competition on Friday. So please be sure to stay tuned to the LSU Track & Field page on Facebook and @LSUTrackField profile on Twitter to get all the updates during the meet. Also, be sure to check back with LSUsports.net for complete results and meet recaps after each day.
Geaux Tigers!!!