Eliza Hawley
At the Distance Carnival and Spring Break Classic track meet March 14, Eliza Hawley (sophomore) ran the 400-meter dash in 57.23 seconds, the seventh-best time in Occidental College’s history and the second-best time among current DIII athletes in the country. Hawley said she started running track alongside cross country in high school, but initially did not plan to continue upon entering college.
“Once I got into Oxy, the coaches just emailed me,” Hawley said.
According to Hawley, she initially ran the 800-meter race for the team but switched to shorter distances soon after joining the team.
“My coach would sometimes put me in the 400, and I liked it because it was quick,” Hawley said. “I was so used to running 5Ks that I was like ‘wow I’m just running one lap.’”
Hawley said she decided to switch to sprinting because she wanted to avoid running for cross country in the fall.
“You’re running 6Ks in 100-degree heat,” Hawley said. “So, I decided to be a sprinter.”
According to Hawley, the track team is extremely supportive, which helped contribute to her performance.
“You’re not blacking out the whole time, you have time to think so you have time to hear your teammates,” Hawley said. “You can hear people cheering for you.”
Hawley said that at the recent Distance Carnival and Spring Break Classic meet, her primary focus was to stick with one of her opponents who was ahead of her and remain competitive throughout the race.
“I was really dying on that last stretch,” Hawley said. “I did throw up after.”
Track and field coach Delaney Nolin said she noticed Hawley was an excellent runner at an earlier indoor track meet, but that the race March 14 was a true breakthrough race.
“To come out of the gate like that in just her sophomore year is pretty amazing,” Nolin said.
According to track and field coach Tyler Yamaguchi, one of Hawley’s standout qualities has been her competitive drive throughout the race.
“When you’re in there and you’re hurting, it’s not as obvious,” Yamaguchi said. “Fatigue makes people doubt themselves, and [Hawley] has very little doubt.”
Based on Hawley’s high school performance, Yamaguchi did not expect Hawley to be a particularly strong runner. However, Hawley exceeded their expectations dramatically.
“It didn’t take too long to realize that we had something special on our hands,” Yamaguchi said. “She’s got pretty incredible range; she can run a pretty incredible 60-meter dash all the way up to the 800.”
Nolin said she believes Hawley has a strong future as a track runner.
“She’s a very coachable athlete, she listens really well and she very clearly wants to get better,” Nolin said. “She really wants to eke out every tenth, every hundredth of a second that she can get.”
Shane Kawakami-Williams
Shane Kawakami-Williams (first year) was recently voted as an All-Region Honoree by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association for his performance in the 400-meter dash. Kawakami-Williams said he started running track in 7th grade.
“I started from the 100-meter, I was fully a 100-meter guy all of middle and high school,” Kawakami-Williams said. “But at the very end of high school, my coach really wanted me to run the 400. He still let me run the 100, but [I ran] the 400 for him.”
According to Kawakami-Williams, as he’s matured in his college career, he’s started to focus more on relatively longer springs like the 200-meter and 400-meter races.
“A 100 is really easy to complete, but it’s very technically challenging,” Kawakami-Williams said. “You have to execute everything right because there’s no room for error.”
Kawakami-Williams said that the 400-meter is tougher in terms of its physicality, but there is also more room to bounce back from errors.
“When I get on the line, it’s very tough, it’s a mental battle always,” Kawakami-Williams said. “But one thing I don’t like about the 100 is that if you make a mistake, like if you slip out of the blocks, it means a lot in the 100. In the 400, not so much.”
When running a 400-meter, Kawakami-Williams said he splits the race into two segments of 200-meters.
“For the first 200, I want to go out fast but relaxed,” Kawakami-Williams. “If I can go out at a good pace that’s relaxed and I don’t have to push, that’s the perfect pace for me. The second 200, I actually kick it in.”
Harrison Williams (junior), who runs the 400-meter hurdles and the 4×400-meter relay, said Kawakami-Williams is often relaxed while running.
“You can always tell a good runner when they don’t look like they’re trying, but they’re moving very fast,” Williams said. “[Kawakami-Williams] is very entertaining to watch run, he’s so smooth and so effortless.”
Yamaguchi said that Kawakami-Williams has the potential to be very successful throughout his track career.
“[Kawakami-Williams] has a pretty rare combination of talent, work ethic and he has that competitiveness in him as well” Yamaguchi said. “A lot of times you’ll get a couple of these attributes and you’re maybe missing another one.”
Contact Avinash Iyer at iyera@oxy.edu
