Lauryn Williams
born 1983
She was certainly one of the most decorated - Williams became only the third female in PIAA history to win the 100 and 200 three different years. She had the fastest electronically timed 100 in WPIAL history and the second-best 200. Williams capped off her high school career by placing second in the 100 at the Adidas Outdoor Scholastic Track and Field Championships. The event is considered the national championships for high schools. Williams ran the 100 in 11.65 seconds and finished a close second to Erica Whipple of West Palm Beach, Fla., then considered the No. 1 high school sprinter in the country.
Williams excelled off the track as well. A four-time class president, she also served as Student Council President her senior year.
Heavily recruited, she attended the University of Miami where she continued her success. A nine-time All American and 11-time Big East Champion, she won the NCAA 100 meter championship in 2004 with a time of 10.97 seconds, second fastest in the world that year. She also added a World Junior championship in 2002 and a gold in the 100m in the Pan American games in 2003. Her speed and determination launched her international career in track, eventually earning her multiple World Championship and Olympic medals.
Williams earned her first Olympic medal in 2004, a silver in the 100m. She won gold in the 100m at the 2005 World Championships and gold in the 4 x 100 m relays at the 2005 and 2007 Worlds. She added another gold in the 2012 Summer Olympics for the 4 x 100m relays for her work in the qualifying heats, though she did not run in the file.
Introduced to the bobsled by a Team USA teammate, she partnered with Elena Meyers Taylor as brakeman in the two women bobsled. The two won silver in Sochi in the 2014 Olympics making Lauryn the first American woman to medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics and only one of five athletes to ever do so.
Now retired from competition, Williams lives in Dallas with her husband and works as a financial planner.
