Two years ago, Connor Smith broke his own school record on his way to a SCISA state title. Caulder Williamson was an eighth-grader at the time, and he was determined to follow in the footsteps of his teammate. In fact, he wanted to sprint past them.
On Saturday, Williamson did just that. While he fell just seven seconds shy of a SCISA 4A title, he ran past Smith’s record time of 15:52.54 by nearly three seconds. His performance helped lead Wilson Hall to the 4A state championship as a team and also helped him run away with the Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week.
“I’m very, very thankful for the support of Wilson Hall,” Williamson said. “Being able to win state after being projected to get fifth is huge. I’m just really happy for the team and the coaches because they put so much effort and time into us.”
The sophomore has been focused on topping Smith’s time for the last two years and could tell he was getting close. He fell just short at the Highlander Invitational on Oct. 5, running on the same course as Saturday’s state championship. Williamson was less than two seconds off the record with a time of 15:54.30 and was confident he could shave off a few seconds at state.
“That was my goal at the beginning of the season. I was two seconds away at the Heathwood Invitational, and I knew it was going to be close, but I knew I could if I wanted it enough,” Williamson said. “I did, and it was very, very exciting.”
Williamson needed every second as he tried to make a late push for the state title but ultimately fell just short of the individual honor. He crossed the finish line in 15:49.08, exactly seven seconds behind Heathwood Hall’s Jack Wilcox.
“I knew it was going to be extremely close in the last 400. Both of my years, there’s been one group that has five or six boys in it that stays at the top for the first three miles until guys start falling off,” he said. “It was me and two other kids, and one of them just turned it on more than me.”
Smith was on hand for Williamson’s record-breaking performance and offered congratulations and a warning to his former teammate.
“I figured he would be mad,” Williamson joked. “But he didn’t really care that much, but he doesn’t want me to break his mile record (in track and field).”
Once he finished the race, Williamson had to wait and see how his teammates fared. He watched as each of the Barons crossed the finish line, but they had a pretty dramatic wait before learning that they won the state title by a single point over John Paul II.
“I realized I got the school record, so I’m celebrating until I realized like two minutes later that Gavin Getz PRed (personal record) by like a minute. Right then, I knew we had a great chance,” Williamson said of seeing the door for a team state championship open up in real time. “About 20 minutes later, we refigured out we won by one point, and it was extremely exciting.”
With the school record now in his rearview mirror, Williamson has a new goal for each season: trying to beat himself.
“My initial goal was to break it by my senior year, so breaking it this year really opens the door for a lot of stuff to happen the next two years,” he said. “I’m really excited.”
As Williamson tries to break his own record, he’ll be surrounded by teammates who will push him to be his best. All of the Barons from the state championship team, including Trip Hunt, Abel Ayres, Ben Rabon, Gavin Getz, Aiden Bradford and Wil Alexander, will all be back next year. The sky is the limit as the Barons look to start a cross country dynasty.
“Heathwood’s had the dynasty for about four years now, and I think we’ve kinda taken it over,” Williamson said. “We have no boys leaving the cross country team this year, and we’re all going to get faster.”
