Jane Williams said she lost focus on the third lap, but the Matthew C. Perry senior rallied to finish the 1,600 strong – and in Pacific-record fashion – in Saturday’s home regular-season finale at Samurai Field. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan – Jane Williams talked Friday about how she wanted to “PR” in the 1,600-meter run during Saturday’s regular-season ending home meet.
She meant personal record.
But she got a bonus – breaking a 9-year-old Pacific record.
And she continued her assault on the regional record book for both track and cross country.
Williams, a Matthew C. Perry senior, ran the event in 5 minutes, 6.99 seconds on a cloudy, warm, windless day with a high of just above 70.
“I lost my focus on the third lap,” she said, “but I was able to close decently. I finished well.”
Her time broke the Pacific record of 5:07.45, set in the 2015 DODEA-Pacific Far East meet at Yokota by then-Seisen freshman Brittani Shappell.
She’s No. 1 in the Pacific record book. Matthew C. Perry senior Jane Williams ran the 1,600 meters in 5 minutes, 6.99 seconds on Saturday at her home Samurai Field track, breaking the old Pacific record of 5:07.45 set in 2015 by Seisen’s Brittani Shappell. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
It’s the second record of Shappell’s that Williams has broken this season. On March 9, she ran the 3,200 in 11:00.89, topping Shappell’s old mark of 11:04.56, also set during the 2015 Far East meet.
That’s on top of setting new Pacific and Far East meet records during the 2023 cross country season.
And she says the best may be yet to come, at next week’s DODEA-Pacific Far East meet at Yokota.
“I think so,” Williams said of possibly beating the Far East meet records as well. “I need to improve my focus on Laps 2 and 3 and work on kicking better.”
Her coach, Michael Kelley, Perry’s Junior ROTC commander, said there may be no limit to what Williams can accomplish. She has committed to Utah State for cross country and track next school year.
“The sky’s the limit,” Kelley said. “She’s just getting started.”
Saturday’s was the latest in what’s becoming a season of record breakers in all parts of the region.
D’Jhontae Douglas of Humphreys broke the boys 100-meter dash record on March 16 on his home track, clocking 10.53 seconds, breaking the old mark of 10.77 set by then-Humphreys freshman Tevijon Williams in 2019.
Far East boys cross country champion William Beardsley of St. Mary’s beat his own Pacific mark in the 1,600, running 4:15.12 in last week’s Kanto finals at Yokota. The senior’s old mark was 4:17.38, set in last year’s Far East meet.
Senior Hugh Kent of Guam’s John F. Kennedy High School ran the 3,000 meters in 8:57.12 on April 6. That broke the island record of 9:21.78, set by JFK’s John Aquino IV on April 27, 2013, and the Pacific mark of 8:58.50 set by Zama’s Andrew Quallio on March 28, 2009. DODEA-Pacific schools outside of Guam no longer compete in the 3,000.
