FSU’s Williams Soared To Jumps Double In 2009
Kim Williams won two events at the 2009 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Her long jump/triple jump double made her then just the second woman in meet history to accomplish that feat.
First up for Williams in her attempt at a double was a long jump final that still boggles fans with how amazingly close the competition was.
Would you believe the top-3 had the same best mark? That places four and five were just 1cm behind and sixth was only 2cm away from winning?
It happened.
After the first three rounds, Williams was tied with Karoline Kohler of San Diego State at 6.54m (21-5½). Kohler held the tiebreaker but was unable to compete any further due to a leg injury. Just 2cm behind was Florida’s Shara Proctor at 6.52m (21-4¾).
The leaderboard got even more crowded after Round 4, when 2007 NCAA champ Rhonda Watkins of UCLA and Baylor’s DeAna Carson posted back-to-back efforts of 6.53m (21-5¼). Proctor moved down another spot in Round 5 when Oregon’s Jamesha Youngblood blasted a PR to create a three-way tie at the top at 6.54m (21-5½).
As the deciding Round 6 started, Kohler led on the better second mark. Youngblood held second place over Williams on the same basis.
Until Williams’ final attempt, Proctor was the only one of the top-6 to post a mark in the final round, yet her 6.45m (21-2) jump meant she would finish in sixth place, as her best of 6.52m (21-4¾) was still 2cm short of the leaders.
Co-leader Williams sat in third place as the final jumper, and all she needed was something better than 6.27m (20-7) to win the tiebreaker. She delivered with a mark of 6.35m (20-10) to win one the meet’s most exciting events ever.
No tie-breakers were needed a day later when Williams came back to win the triple jump by 0.56m (22 inches). Her best mark of 14.38m (47-2¼) was slightly wind-aided at 2.1 m/s, but it remains the third-longest effort in meet history under all conditions.
It was the first of three-straight NCAA triple jump titles for Williams, matching Sheila Hudson’s total and one short of Keturah Orji for the most ever by a woman. Hudson (1990) and Orji (2018) are the only other women who have NCAA long jump/triple jump doubles.
The NCAA and collegiate track & field will mark a momentous milestone in the spring of 2021 -- the 100th anniversary of the NCAA Championships and with that, the NCAA Track & Field Championships. In June 1921, the University of Chicago hosted the first track & field championships in NCAA history.
This point can’t be emphasized enough: Not only was the event the first for NCAA track & field, but the first championships for any sport under the sponsorship of the NCAA.
To celebrate, over each of the next 365 days, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will celebrate moments, student-athletes, and coaches that have made a century’s worth of championships special. From humble beginnings to important historical milestones to the modern-day, collegiate track & field has evolved with the American society.
The 2021 edition of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin with preliminary round action on May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla., and College Station, Texas. The championships final site and culmination of the celebration is slated for June 9-12, 2021 at the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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