Charles Henderson sophomore Rayvion Williams finished 13^th at the Alabama State Cross Country Meet.

With a top-15 finish, Williams was named to the 2017 All-State team.

“It’s an accomplishment that not many has had at this school,” said Trojans head coach Doug Branson. “It’s been a few years.  Making all-state is a really big deal. Being all-state in any sport is really a neat thing.”

Williams finished the 13 at a meet that featured 119 runners.

Williams finished the race in 20:29, which was not only a personal best but also a school record.

This is the second time that Williams has competed at the state level.  As an eighth grader, Williams made the trip to state and finished in 28 place with a time of 21:21.

After finishing in fourth place at sectionals with a time of, Williams and Branson continued to train.

“In the last three weeks she put in a lot of time and miles,” Branson said. “The weather got cold and there we are out there in the cold and she is running like crazy. It really paid off and I am really proud of her.”

Williams made some tactical changes in between the sectional and state meet this year. At sectionals, Williams stormed out of the gates in the opening mile and found herself in the top five before falling back. At the state meet she was a bit more methodical.

“She didn’t run a real good tactical race (at sectionals),” Branson said. “We started too early and she had to hang on. At the state meet she came across the one-mile marker she was in the mid 30’s. I was yelling things to her as she was running. From that point on she started picking runners off.”

Williams is just a sophomore and Branson and the Trojans hope this is just the beginning of her success.

“Knock on wood,” Branson said. “You expect her to hopefully keep progressing. Maybe we can move this into a top 10 or a top 5. We have two more years of watching this young lady run for our school and hopefully improve on these results.”