THE SPORTS DESK
The Best of 2011-2012: Girls athlete of the year Williams was JM’s muscle
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
High school athletes don’t come much more versatile than Keyontae Williams.
The former James Monroe girls basketball and track and field standout did it all for the Yellow Jackets this past school year.
Williams scored, handled the ball, rebounded and played in-your-face defense for JM’s girls basketball team.
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Voting for The Free Lance–Star’s female athlete of the year (first-place votes in parentheses):
Name, School Pts.
1. Keyontae Williams, JM (2) 21
2. Javanique Burruss, Louisa (3) 20
3. Ashley Hinton, Stafford 14
4. Kimberley Ficenec, M. View 10
5. Katrina Houston, N. Stafford 8
Also receiving votes: Courtney Didlake, Caroline (1) 7; Kathleen Namey, Col. Forge 4; Hannah Lowery, Stafford 3; Bailie Hubert, M. View 2; Taylor Fernow, M. View 1.
She sprinted, jumped and threw the shot put for the Yellow Jackets’ track program.
Williams’ versatility has earned her Free Lance–Star girls athlete of the year honors.
“She’s so strong,” said Julian Bumbrey, who coached Williams in basketball and track. “She has a lot of upper-body and leg strength, and she has the mental capacity to handle a lot of stuff.”
Williams earned a full scholarship to play basketball for Albany (N.Y.) University.
She was the Region I, Division 3 player of the year after averaging 20.2 points and seven rebounds per game.
She helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the Group AA, Division 3 state tournament, and surpassed 1,000 career points in the process.
Bumbrey said the biggest improvement she made was showing trust in her teammates.
“Her junior year she tried to put it all on her,” Bumbrey said. “But this year she delegated more. She didn’t try to take over the game as much.”
However, Williams had to do it alone on the track.
She delivered the top individual performance of the Battlefield District meet as she won titles in the long jump, triple jump, shot put and 400 meters. She was second in the 100.
She went on to win the Region I title in the shot put.
“All of that stuff is hard to do,” Bumbrey said. “So it was a great feat on her part.”
Taft Coghill Jr.: 540/374-5526
tcoghill@freelancestar.com
