Four years ago, Kevin Williams never thought he would be standing here, at the precipice of prep distance running’s peak, with a chance to three-peat as champion and set a state record in doing so. Four years ago, running wasn’t a destination sport for Williams, a senior at D’Evelyn. It was a means to an icy end.
“I joined cross country and track my freshman year just as a way to get in shape for ice hockey,” Williams said. “So I never really thought I’d do anything with it. But as the years progressed, I just really grew to love it.”
Not only did Williams grow to love it, he grew to be arguably the best in the state at it. No 4A boys distance runner will bring the credentials Williams has when he steps on the Jefferson County Stadium track for the final time of his career in this weekend’s state track meet.
He is the defending champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. He is the two-time defending 3,200-meter champion, having won the event for the first time when he was a sophomore. His time of 9 minutes, 19.83 seconds is the state-meet record, but Williams has his eyes fixed on a higher goal.
“My main goal for this entire track season is to break the state record in the 3,200 meters,” Williams said.
That mark is held by University of Colorado senior Brent Vaughn, who was timed in 9:05.89 when he ran for Smoky Hill High School in 2003.
“I think what would be a success is if I have a really good race and I put everything I could into it,” Williams said. “If I know I’ve done that, then that’s all I can do, and no matter what I’ll be happy with that.”
Williams’ rapid rise to premier distance-running status still is a head-scratcher to his coach, Micah Porter, who praises Williams’ work ethic and realizes he basically fell into a phenom.
“He was a big hockey guy,” Porter said of Williams, who is 6-feet-1 and weighs 140 pounds. “But he had a runner’s body.”
Williams, who played hockey nearly his entire life, said he tired of it.
“I started when I was 6 and stopped when I was 15,” Williams said. “I think I got a little burned out on hockey. It’s a very time-consuming sport, you have to practice all the time, and I’d been doing it forever. I just think a change was needed, and I picked the right thing.”
Porter agrees.
“He’s such a determined young man that I think what he ended up loving was the success that went along with it,” Porter said. “With running, it’s pretty straightforward. The more work you put in, the greater outcome you’ll receive. It’s pretty cut and dry. I think he saw that that was a pretty simple equation that he was willing to take on.
“I’ve had half a dozen kids run at big Division I programs. We’ve had All-Americans. But Kevin certainly is in the top of that tier.”
In college, Williams will run for Oklahoma under the tutelage of highly successful coach Martin Smith. Williams says he was recruited by Colorado, which has a long history of signing and churning out top distance-running talent, but he felt more comfortable in Norman.
Williams confessed he will have butterflies this weekend as the races near, but they will disappear when the starter’s gun sounds.
“He’s the nicest kid in the world,” Porter said. “Probably the thing I’m going to miss the most about his graduation is I won’t have the opportunity to talk to him in the hallways or after practice.
“I guess I’ve coached long enough to know that the success that kids have running is great as a coach, but the relationships you build with them is the most important thing.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
