Heart, work ethic carries Brooke-Lynn Williams forward

By Mary Albl for DyeStat

NORTON, Mass. – Norton High track coach Kent Taylor's favorite memory of his star sprinter Brooke-Lynn Williams has nothing to do with the sport of track and field.

Instead, Taylor takes you to the Norton High cafeteria. Taylor himself wasn't there at the time, but the scene was recreated through an email sent from a science teacher. 

“I got this email,” Taylor says pausing with emotion. 

It was a couple of weeks ago when Williams witnessed a girl sitting by herself during lunch. Williams approached the girl and asked if she wanted to come and sit with her and her friends. The girl declined. 

So Williams reframed the question.

“She goes, 'Alright, how would you feel if I came over with a couple of my friends and sat over here at this table, would that be OK?' And the girl goes, 'Yeah I think that would be OK.'”

So Williams grabbed all her friend and joined the girl for lunch. 

“You don't see that happen anymore,” Taylor said matter-of-factly. “She cares about people. She's a humanitarian. She is the full package.”

The full package is what the outgoing Williams presents on and off the track. Taylor describes the junior sprinter as the best athlete Norton has ever had. 

“She is one of the most bubbly, excited people you'll ever meet,” he said. “Her disposition is contagious.”

Williams is coming off a breakout indoor season that was highlighted by an All-American performance at nationals, and running a 6.87 55-meter dash at the New England Championships, the fastest time ever in New England. 

“I don't think she realizes what she's done for our program, our community and Massachusetts track and field,” Taylor said.

Williams' path to track didn't start until the spring of her freshman year. Obsessed with basketball since grade school, Williams said the passion and curiosity for running came from watching her older sister Courtney, who was also a standout at Norton.  

Williams said she knew she had the speed, so she made the decision to give up basketball and devote her energy to track. 

“For the first season I was called Courtney,” she said. “She (Courtney) had all these records...but it was setting my own goals, separating ourselves and holding myself as Brooke-Lynn.”

One way Williams has done that is through her inner drive to succeed. 

“She has one of the best work ethics I've ever coached,” Taylor said. “You don't get to nationals and place at nationals and don't have that work ethic.”

Williams comes from an athletic background. Her dad Jon is an ex-New England Patriot and played for Penn State, winning a national title in the early 1980s. 

“The genetics were already there, but she hits the weight room, she puts in that extra time,” Taylor said.

After finishing 20th in the 200 at outdoor nationals and 12th in emerging elite in the 100, Williams hit the offseason hard. 

“I spent a lot of time running by myself,” she explained. 

Williams takes her goal-setting seriously. At the start of the indoor season she emptied a glass jar and inserted the goals she had written on index cards.  

“For her it's never just a race,” Taylor said. “If she does have a bad race, she will become laser focused, she will get back in weight room, block starts, more intervals, whatever it might be. It will be changed.”

During indoor, Williams dominated the 55 dash, each race getting tantalizingly close to breaking the seven second barrier. 

It was on Feb. 20 at the Massachusetts Auerbach All State Meet when she finally went sub-seven, running a blazing 6.91 seconds for the win. 

“That race I don't remember a single second,” Williams said. “I was so excited, all the girls around me were so excited. It was very special.”

A week later at New Englands back at the Reggie Lewis Center when she lowered her time. She clocked an eye-popping 6.87 to claim the title and rank No. 2 in the U.S. 

She finished indoors placing fifth in the 60 meter dash at nationals. She became the first runner from Norton to earn All-American status. 

“I just kept saying, 'Wow, wow, wow,'” her dad Jon Williams said of what his daughter has accomplished. 

This spring, her focus will shift to the 100 and 200. Taylor said he hopes to get Williams a spot at the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle in June. 

But while Williams may be embracing a newfound spotlight this spring, she still carries a philanthropic outlook. 

“She's very caring,” Jon Williams said. “She has this respect and understanding that it's other people you have to reach out to and pull them into your world.”