Wyatt Williams '22 Recruiting Profile

I have been running Cross Country and Track since 7'th grade. Starting out, I wanted to just try out some sports to see what I liked and I quickly fell in love with running.  Going into High School I realized that it is a way different atmosphere as the competition only got tougher and tougher. I unfortunately did not get to run much of Freshman Year Cross Country due to breathing complications, but once that cleared up and Track was starting soon I came back stronger than I thought.  Quickly breaking my mile record of 5:30 down to 5:11, then one of the biggest accomplishments took place as I broke the 5 minute mark on the mile with a 4:58! Moving on I got down to a 4:51 within the mile while also running a 10:47 3200m. Moving onto Sophomore year, I was a bit worried how Cross Country would turn out but I crushed the times I thought were gonna be my final times. Ending the season with a 16:47 5k and later a 16:10 at a Community 5k Run. I soon started to take thing way more seriously, training as much as I can while also doing everything to prevent injury, and eventually Track came around and my first race of the 2020 season I ran a 4:42. Sadly, due to Covid-19 issues and with the season cancelled there were no more races, but I still trained the 6 days a week and broke my mile record  by myself running a 4:40.  With Junior year over the season unfortunately wasn't as great as I had wanted but thats alright because it is just an opportunity to really dig in and make the next season of cross and track the best I possibly can.  With my Senior season almost over  I ran 16:03 which was so close to breaking 16, the goal I have has my eyes set on for a long time. Finally, after working so hard for the goal I set and that I was determined to achieve, I broke 16 running a time of 15:46 at Sectionals! With State Championships done I finished in 11’th place, coming in first for Highland! And as my Senior across Country Season comes to an end I ran a PR of 15:38 at the Gilbert Turkey Trot. Really proud and happy with how I performed. Starting off 2022 strong I ran a 9:51 3200m at the Sundown Series, opening up track season with a huge pr! I ended up running 9:40 later in the season at the Chandler Rotary Relays where I came in 6th. I also ended up running a 4:32 mile and 2:04 800m during this same season. I got injured near the end but came back for state where I didn't perform nearly as well as I wanted but just glad I got to run on that stage. Heading into the Summer I reaffirmed where I was going and got an Athletic Scholarship to attend Mesa Community College here in Mesa AZ. While here I have been participating in both Cross Country & Track. During Cross Country I managed to get a decent 8k of around 26:40 at the Riverside Invite (the course was a little long and they said conversion was about 20-30 seconds). Come November of 2022 I gained a spot in the top 7 for Cross Country, where we travelled Tallahassee, Florida to compete in the NJCAA DII National Championships, I placed 40th Individually out of around 200 Runners and our team came in 4th. Heading into the Spring for Indoor & Outdoor Track I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I still managed to run some times I was happy with, that being 9:09 in the 3K and 4:11 in the 1500m. Going into my last year here I've had the mentality that I can do better and so far it's been paying off. I recently ran a nice pr of 26:15 at the Cougar Challenge in San Marcos California which has just helped boost my confidence going into Conference the following weekend. At conference I had a huge breakthrough and ran another pr of 25:33, which is where I currently sit at and I'm looking at bring that down even further when we travel to Riverside to race in a few weeks.

I think what makes me a good candidate for your Cross Country and Track team is my dedication and positivity. I go to practice all 6 days a week, even going to practices that aren't mandatory to go to as well as training on my own, making sure I get whatever training I can get in. I always do whatever I can to prevent an injury by always keeping a healthy diet and doing numerous exercises everyday to keep my body healthy and in shape. As I do these things I know that I can reach not only the goals my coach may set, but personal goals as well. I always try to be positive and uplifting during anytime whether its practice, school, a race, and so on. Even if a race does not go well or someone else's race didn't go as expected, I always do what I can to make sure not only me but my teammates are motivated and keep a well attitude no matter what struggle is thrown at us. Over the past years of experience I've come to realize that as I go into upcoming seasons, one of my biggest goals is to continue to run Cross Country and Track in College and beyond and I know if I keep setting goals and making sure I do whatever I can to achieve those goals, I can accomplish whatever I put my mind too.