Athlete Q&A: From tough life in Sacramento to Logan
Utah Statesman: Why did you choose USU?
Emon Williams: The coaches came out to my house in Sacramento. When I came on my recruit trip I liked the guys I hung out with. I liked the atmosphere, plus I wanted to pick a school I could generally graduate from, not get swept under the rug.
US: What are your expectations for this coming season?
EW: I’m with a new group now, and I’m with a really good coach, Coach (Corey) Murdock. I feel confident that he’s going to help me out, better than last year. I was struggling last year a little bit, and this year I hope to run faster and score points in conference.
US: Do you feel that you’ve done well in your athletic career at USU?
EW: Oh, yeah. My first year here I (set a personal record) outdoor, and last year I (set a personal record) indoor and didn’t do well in outdoor. Productively I feel that I’m getting a lot stronger, faster and more knowledgeable in my sport. There’s a lot of different things when it comes to running the 800, which is the race I run, so every time you run it you get better.
US: How did it feel to become Mr. USU?
EW: Mr. USU was interesting. One of our former athletes, Preston Gordon, couldn’t do it, so he nominated me to do it. I showed up for rehearsal the first day, and it was kind of high-spirited. All of the guys had already done (the competition) once, and I felt weird. But once I started getting into it, I had a lot of fun. I was shocked that I won. They called me for Mr. Congeniality, and I thought it was over from there.
US: What is it like being a student-athlete?
EW: I think being a student-athlete is really tough because of the expectations. Right now we have eight-hour weeks (for practice), and in a month or two we’re going to start 20-hour weeks. When everyone else has down time, we’re either practicing or studying. Plus, you’re not necessarily in the spotlight, but you’re more known on campus because you’re an athlete. Everything that you do has to be on the up and up.
US: How did your track career start?
EW: It was weird. I started running track my freshman year in high school. Before that I played soccer, and the coaches saw me one day in practice and they thought it would be good for me to come out and run track. I ran the 800 and broke the school record, and from then on I ran track.
US: What’s the main difference between Sacramento, Calif., and Logan?
EW: The people – the amount of people and the type of people. I’m LDS, and (Logan) is more religious than Sacramento. You have lots of different things going on in Sacramento, different religions. And here there’s a lot, but one is more prevalent than the others. It’s a lot easier to slip at home as opposed to being here. There are a lot of bad things you can do at home, and there’s not much you can get into here. Being here is probably a little bit better.
US: Who’s your hero?
EW:I have two. My mom is number one; she raised my brothers and me by herself. Being a single black woman, she struggled every day. If she can do that and make it, then I can do pretty much anything. My other hero is my baby sister. Well, she’s older than me, but she’s the youngest one before me. Right now she’s dealing with cancer, and that’s tough. When I found out, everything in my life that I thought was catastrophic seemed little next to dealing with cancer.
US: Do you have any premeet rituals?
EW: It might sound crazy, but I don’t eat. I eat the night before, but let’s say that I run at 8 at night, I probably won’t eat until I’m done. I think it’s mental because if I eat, it weighs me down and that will slow me down. That’s sometimes not good, but it’s worked for me for a long time.
US: What type of music pumps you up for before and during your run?
EW: Until last year I ran with my iPod on and it threw me off. Now I don’t run with any music because I like to hear my body, when I’m breathing hard. In a race you don’t get to hear music, so when you hear other people breathing hard it makes you tired. So I cut music out. But music that would get me pumped up, get me ready, I like hip hop. The beats are repetitive, so it’s kind of like warrior drums. Hip hop is a lot repetition and it pumps me up.
-erin.wadsworth@aggiemail.usu.edu