USC Sprinter Overcomes Olympic Disappointment

Running the 100 meters in 11.33 seconds is approaching world class for a female 100-meter sprinter. Angela Williams ran that time when she was 14. The problem for her is that she ran that time again last July in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at age 20.

She already was ill with flu, but the time made her feel sicker. She didn’t feel any better when she realized she would not make the Olympic team after finishing sixth in her semifinal heat.

“The worst race ever,” said Williams, with a laugh now when recalling that day. “Coach [Ernie Gregoire] just said it was the worst race I’ve ever run since high school. Eleven-three was ridiculous.”

Williams says a lot of things with a laugh. With an effervescent personality and a gift for speed, the USC junior is a track promoter’s dream. She will run in the women’s 50 meters Saturday at the Sports Arena in the L.A. Invitational.

One of the meet’s featured performers, Williams has been regarded as a potential challenger to Olympic sprint champion Marion Jones.

But Williams’ rapid rise was derailed at the trials in Sacramento. She woke up feeling ill the morning she left for the trials and got worse.

Well off her form, she ran 11.34 in the first round and barely advanced to the semifinals. A month earlier at the NCAA outdoor championships, she had defended her 100 title in 11.12.

After not making the U.S. team, Williams didn’t want anything to do with the Olympics. But, with some prodding, she watched on television and suddenly didn’t feel so bad anymore.

“I didn’t want to watch the Olympics,” she said. “But some of my friends called me and told me to turn the TV on. There was Gail [Devers], and she got hurt. Then you heard about all the other injuries. You had Inger [Miller], who went down.

“I had my downfall at the trials. But then I didn’t feel alone. I didn’t want to be selfish and just think that this only happens to me. I learned that all this stuff is out of my control.”

Gregoire, Williams’ longtime coach and the director of the Southern California Cheetahs track club, said that Williams doesn’t dwell on a setback.

“The first couple of days [after the trials], the disappointment was really, really high,” he said. “Basically, the thing I just told her is that these kind of things happen. It was one of those things.

“But that’s all behind her now. Her focus is on being the first three-time NCAA [100-meter] champion.”

USC Coach Ron Allice said he was shocked to see Williams struggle last summer, but he also wasn’t surprised that she quickly put it in the past.

“The one thing about her is she always rises to the occasion,” he said. “In the early rounds, she does what she needs to do. She doesn’t put the pedal down until it counts.

“She is as even keeled a person as anyone can be. If anyone can handle that kind of setback well, she can.”

What if Williams had made it to Sydney? Could she have helped a 400-meter relay team that essentially was thrown together when Devers and Miller withdrew because of injuries.

“They certainly needed her,” said Allice, who believed the U.S. might have won gold with Williams leading off instead of Chryste Gaines. The team of Gaines, Nanceen Perry, Torri Edwards and Jones won bronze, finishing behind the Bahamas and Jamaica.

These days, Williams isn’t so goal-oriented. The expectations are still there but she figures they always will be.

“I don’t put as much expectations on myself as I used to,” Williams said. “We’re all human. . . . God gave me a gift and part of that gift is failure. You get stronger when you learn from that failure.”

41st Annual L.A. Invitational

* WHEN: Saturday. High school events start at 11 a.m. with the invitational at 6 p.m.

* WHERE: Sports Arena.

* ATHLETES TO WATCH: Angela Williams, two-time NCAA 100-meter champion from USC; Stanford’s 1500-meter Olympian Michael Stember; Miler Bernard Lagat of Kenya.

* TICKETS: Sports Arena box office (213) 748-6131.