 Courtesy shot: MStateAthletics.com |
On January 18, sophomore Tiffany McWilliams of Mississippi State won the SEC Challenge mile at Fayetteville with a time
of 4:39.73, nearly eight seconds ahead of the nearest competitor and more than ten seconds under the old Mississippi State
indoor track record.
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AlabamaRunners: What were your expectations and goals going into Fayetteville? Did you enter this meet with the goal of
running an automatic qualifying time?
Tiffany McWilliams: Honestly, I did not expect to run a qualifying time. I only wanted to see where I was in my
training.
AR: How did the race develope and how did it meet or differ from your expectations of what would happen?
TM: Two hours prior to the race I talked to Coach Schmidt. He told me what my splits for the first two laps should
be around, what I was capable of running, and that when he told me to go, GO! Throughout the race I listened for Coach to
tell me "good pace" or "pick it up a little." At 800 meters he told me to go. I did not expect to run 4:39.
AR: You've already earned a spot at NC's, so is it time to just lay low for awhile competition-wise? Are you looking ahead
to any dates besides nationals as key meets?
TM: Now it is time to focus on the DMR team and qualify for Nationals. It would also be nice to qualify in the 800m. run.
AR: There's been talk lately, sparked by Alan Webb's decision to turn pro, about how hard the collegiate schedule is on
athletes. One point rasied is that the track season is so long that it's hard for an athlete to compete in February and
March for indoor and hold that level of condition, or even improve on it, until late May or early June. Now that you've
burst from the gate in mid-January with a 4:39 time, how are you looking ahead to the next four and a half months?
TM: When I think about track, I don't think of it as a 5-month season, January-June. I just set personal goals
throughout the season and work to reach them. I'm also not running a lot of mileage. I'm a young runner and Coach Schmidt
understands what my body is capable of doing. Whether I can "hold the level of condition" or "improve on it," I guess
we'll see, but I'm determined to improve throughout indoors and outdoors.
AR: What are your expectations and goals for nationals, as of now?
TM: I don't have a certain goal or time I want to hit. As for expectations, "to be a competitive racer."
AR: What was your attitude in high school toward competing in 2A without much competition, while the girls closer to
your ability level got to face each other regularly in the larger divisions? Did this factor into your decision to enter
the most competitive track conference in the country?
TM: During high-school I would always become nervous before every state meet. The idea of running in the 2A
division didn't affect my decision on where I was going to run. I chose to run at MSU because of the great Coaching
staff and friendly people. I did not understand how competitive SEC's really was until I began to compete.
AR: While in high school, you trained with Coach Dudley some at Bevill State, so you weren't affected
as much as others might be by a change in coaching philosophy from high school to college. Now that he's your official
coach at Mississippi State, has your working relationship changed any? Is your training roughly the same?
TM: I did not train at Bevill on a regular basis. I usually trained about two months prior to the state
meet. My training consisted of basketball season, road-races, and track meets until my 11th grade year. That is when
I started showing up once or twice a week to train with the runners at Bevill. Even then, my running ranged from 10-15
miles per week. The first time I ever did a workout or ran over 3 miles was after I met Coach Dudley. The training we
did helped my running out "a lot" and gave me an idea of what running would be like in college. Now that I am at MSU I
am coached by Coach Al Schmidt. Now that I actually know what it takes to be a runner (to train regularly), I am able to
look back and see how little I actually knew about running while I was in high-school.
AR: You had so many other activities going on in high school--basketball, tennis, cheerleading, church group. If you
didn't run track, what other sport or hobby would you pursue?
TM: I never thought, "what if I didn't run." If I couldn't, I would try to become more invovled with church and
young people.
AR: There's no doubt that you're a great pressure performer. Even in high school, you had one of your best basketball
performances at the state championship game (correct me if I'm wrong with that one), earning MVP honors and leading Red
Bay to the 2A team championship. Where do you think that special ability to perform best when it counts most comes from?
TM: I would have to say it is a combination of track and basketball. While I played basketball in high-school, Coach
Donnie Roberts stressed the idea "the way you practice is the way you are going to play in the game--when it counts!" I
carried that idea over into my running. I think the way a person trains is the way he/she will race (perform). I am only
going to get out what I put in to my training. Being a runner yourself, I'm sure you understand that sometimes
runners have a bad race. I don't always perform best when it counts the most, but I would have to say I've learned the
most from those races.
AR: Who were the biggest influences to getting you into track, and to what or whom do you attribute any part of your
success?
TM: Biggest influence-my family. Any part of my success-God, he gave me the talent and health to run!
Coach Schmidt-his training has already helped me improve drastically and, of course, my teammates along with all of the
coaching staff.
AR: Do you remember any of your times or marks from the Presidential Fitness tests back in grade school?
TM: I don't remember any of the exact times. Once, while in grade school, we had to run the mile for the
Presidential Physical Fitness test and I ran a 6:30-45 ? in sandals. Coach Morrow told me, "You should go out for the track
team when you get to 7th grade."
AR: Thank you, Tiffany, and good luck at conference and nationals!