Nelson, Williams dominate sprints at Pac-12s

Oregon’s Kemba Nelson claims the Pac-12 100m title on Sunday, clocking a personal best 11.05. Photo by Logan Hannigan-Downs

By Cassie Cole

Oregon swept the 100m and 200m dash at the Pac-12 Championships on Sunday, demonstrating their sprinting power. Both the men’s and women’s races were won by the same Oregon runner.

Nelson nonstop

Kemba Nelson won the women’s 100m with a season best of 11.05. The redshirt senior, who transferred to Oregon last year, came first in her prelim heat on Saturday running 11.23, the third fastest time overall among the finals qualifiers.

Cal’s Ezinne Abba and USC’s Celera Barnes took second and third place in the 100m, respectively. The two women gave Nelson a good push to the finish.

“I know the USC girl next to me is always a good starter,” said Nelson after the race. “Coach always says, ‘break them at the start and just keep going.’”

The women’s 100m wasn’t Nelson’s first race of the day, however—she ran the second leg of the 4x100m relay early Sunday afternoon. The Oregon women’s relay team finished first with a season best of 42.91.

Although Nelson had a busy afternoon of events, the relay didn’t slow her down.

“It was like a confidence booster going into the individual races,” said Nelson, who was able to celebrate with her relay team on the podium before preparing for her next two races. “The team was very positive. 

The positivity stuck through the women’s 200m dash, where Nelson again took first place. Abba finished in second again and UCLA’s Shae Anderson finished third. Nelson’s winning time of 22.74 was a personal best, and a hard-earned one at that.

“It was harder, really 200 will always be a little bit harder for me,” said Nelson. She explained that the hard turn at the beginning of the race required a different strategy than the 100m. Nelson amassed a total of 22.5 points at the Pac-12 Championships this weekend and was named Women’s Athlete of the Meet.

Micah Williams sets a new Pac-12 championship meet record, 9.93, to win the 100m title on his home track on Sunday. Photo by Logan Hannigan-Downs

Williams on winning

Oregon freshman Micah Williams also had a standout sprint performance on Sunday. Like Nelson, Williams began his day running the second leg of the 4x100m relay for the men’s team. The team finished third with a time of 39.39.

Williams then went on to win the men’s 100m. His winning time of 9.93 was a personal record and a meet record for the Pac-12 Championships. Williams beat out Stanford’s Udodi Onwuzurike and reigning Pac-12 100m Champion Davonte Burnett of USC, who finished second and third respectively.

But like Nelson, Williams didn’t stop there. Less than an hour after the 100m, Williams was back on the track to run the 200m. When asked if he heard the Hayward Field crowd cheering for him, Williams shook his head.

“I didn’t hear it,” said Williams. “I was dying. I was dying.”

“We had no rest,” Williams later added.

Back-to-back races didn’t stop Williams from winning the 200m, however. His time of 20.05 was another personal record to add to the books, but it was a close win. Onwuzurike, also running the 200m, finished just after Williams with 20.09.

“In the 200 I didn’t even know that I won,” said Williams. Onwuzurike and Williams ran so closely together that Williams didn’t notice he had won the race until he saw the times on the jumbotron.

“I didn’t expect that,” said Williams.

A new example

For Williams, there was a deeper message behind his sprint wins on Sunday.

“Oregon’s not historically known for our sprint state, but that’s all possible,” said Williams. He hopes to inspire other Oregon runners and open doors for them to be sprinters and win their races at Oregon.

“I try to be the inspiration for them,” said Williams.

Williams collected a total of 21.5 points at the Pac-12 Championships and was named Men’s Athlete of the Meet. The Oregon men and women’s teams both won the team title at the competition, marking the 10th sweep in program history.