When Kendell Williams was 7 years old, she discovered she had a future in track.
Her father, Blane Williams, told MaxPreps, "We dragged her to so many baseball games (to watch older brother Devon) and she had to spend every day under the bleachers playing with her Barbie dolls. She spent every birthday at baseball games.
"At 7 years old, she kicked off her shoes and beat almost every boy (8-10 year-olds) in a race across a grassy field. Running barefooted. I thought we probably needed to see if her talent (could) be cultivated."
Kendell explained, "I was sitting there and had nothing else to do. I got up and raced. I didn't know I was going to do that well."
Blane immediately signed her up with the East Cobb Track Club, a recreation program in their hometown of Marietta, Ga. Later he moved her to the more competitive First Light Track Club in Marietta where she came under the guidance of a good friend, Tony Dunning.
Dunning told him, "Man, I can't wait for her to get on those hurdles. She's going to be a great hurdler. She's going to be a national champion. He taught me how to teach her about hurdles."
Kendell Williams.
Photo courtesy of Blane Williams
Dunning concedes, "I think everyone is going to be a great hurdler. She had ideal size and speed. When I put her through the first drills, she was more naturally gifted. She had no trouble three-stepping those 80-meter hurdles. By 11 she already was national class."
Kendell admitted, "At first I was like 'No way I could jump over those hurdles.' (Later) It was like – 'Wow – maybe he (Dunning) was right.' To me hurdling is easier (than other events), because it's more fun and kind of challenging. It felt good to take on a challenge."
It wasn't too long before Kendell gave up ballet, cheerleading and basketball to concentrate on track.
Though she's just a sophomore at
Kell (Marietta, Ga.), the 5-foot-9 standout already has established herself as one of the nation's premier hurdlers. For example, she never has lost an outdoor hurdles race, counting more than 100 victories during the past five years in races between 100 and 400 meters.
Her career-best times thus far are: 8.06 seconds in the 55 hurdles, 8.49 in the 60, 12.63 in the 80, 13.57 in the 100, 26.10 in the 200, 41.30 in the 300 and 58.63 in the 400.
"It feels great - really, really great," she said of her dominance in outdoor hurdles races. "But at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on me because I want to keep it going."
Recently she set personal records in the high jump (5-8 ½) and the long jump (19-8 ¾) during the University of Kentucky High School Invitational. Because of this all-around ability, she also is a standout in the heptathlon.
Kendell has come a long way from the 7 year-old who always got so nervous before each race.
"She used to put a lot of pressure on herself," Blane recalled. "I could see her tensing up. She would break out with a rash on her top lip. A doctor told us it was stress. I used to call her goofy names. I'd say ‘Run like a duck' or ‘Fly like a chicken' to break her stress. I always yell out ‘Clean and smooth.' I always remind her to have fun, because she's not getting paid."
Kendell claimed her first national victory as an 11 year-old in the 80 hurdles during the AAU Junior Olympics.
She was so outstanding at age 14 that she won the prestigious Joel Ferrell Award, which goes to the AAU Athlete of the Year. At the end of the 2009 campaign, she set four national records during the AAU Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa.
She really blossomed during her freshman year at Kell High School.
In March she set a national freshman pentathlon record with 3,561 points at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston.
After tying the state high jump record at 5-8 during the region championships in April, she won Georgia state titles in the 100 and 300 hurdles – both in record times – in May. She later was named Georgia Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year.
The summer before her sophomore year, she won three gold medals and set two records during the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational in Carolina, Puerto Rico, and five golds during the AAU Regional Championships.
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