Thoughts from senior Britany Williams on Rice’s second place finish at the C-USA indoor track meet
In this week's women's track article, Britany shared her thoughts about the end of the indoor season. Here's the full-length version of her interview.
Rice Thresher: For someone who has only known success at the conference meet, how difficult was it to take that the meet ended with y’all in second place?
Britany: It was extremely difficult. As the meet went on, I started having a feeling where if we’re going to lose, I just want to lose by a lot. Our coach said, if we’re going to lose, that’s fine, but we want to put out our hardest effort. I would’ve been OK with that, but the fact that it was only three, three and a half points that was what was hard and that you can count how many instances we could’ve scored three points. So it was extremely upsetting you don’t know any better and winning a meet brings a lot of confidence. It’s hard being knocked off that pedestal. I think that will motivate us even more when it comes to outdoor because we do have the chance where we’re going to win four in a row. We’re even more motivated more because we’ve been knocked off that pedestal.
RT: After the second place finish, would you say the team feels motivated to compete in outdoor?
Britany: I think it’s always good competing at a conference meet because it brings you together. When you’re in cross country, it’s always about bonding. Conference meets are always good because you can watch people you haven’t watched before and go cheer on some of your teammates. After conference meets we always tend to be a little bit more like a family. I think that is always a positive that I’ve enjoyed. Whether you win or lose the conference meet, you always remember why you’re here. Sure track is a bit of an individual sport, but at the end of the day we’re wearing a Rice uniform and we’re doing this for Rice. It gets hard at the end of the season when five people are going to this meet and give people are going to that meet. It’s nice when everybody is together. It’s a positive you get out of conference every year whether you win or lose.
RT: What did it mean to you to earn a provisional qualifying time and the top conference mile time?
Britany: I feel like I’ve fallen short in my past three years that I’ve been here. I was the first person out from nationals last year in the 5K. Especially not to qualify, I had still yet to get in the top three in an event at conference in a relay. I think I was really glad this weekend. Sure, I may not have gone top three in the mile conference but at least I ended my season knowing I’m number one in something and I can end my season knowing I provisionally qualified which has been a goal of mine since the moment I stepped on campus. It’s nice to finally say I had a goal and I met it. It gives me a confidence boost, I always had confidence in my ability and I did know I was able to do that. But, you can only go so long having confidence in something without really doing it. I think I was starting to get to the point where I was wondering if I can, since I had never actually done it. It was nice to reassure myself that I’m not crazy. I can do it and that I do belong at nationals and all of that. That was a good confidence booster going into the outdoor season.