Hamilton track duo Smith, Williams breaks through

A couple of athletes from Nottingham and Hamilton West are destroying the myth that a person must start early in track and field to achieve success.

Nottingham junior Ti’Kayla Smith did not begin throwing the javelin until her sophomore year and has already made two NJSIAA Meet of Champions appearances. Hamilton West senior Jamel Cheeseborough-Williams began track and field last season and qualified for the Meet of Champions in the long jump this season.

This is not to say everyone should start track in high school and expect to succeed.

It is to say that these two are pretty phenomenal athletes.

Smith came out for track as a freshman to run distance events, but that didn’t work out. She plays basketball in the winter, so she does not do indoor track, and last spring the coaches offered her whatever event she felt comfortable trying.

Smith had the most fun throwing javelin and, despite being raw, she won the Colonial Valley Conference championship and finished 16th in the Meet of Champions with a personal record of 110 feet, 5 inches.

After leading the Northstars in both scoring and rebounding this past winter, Smith returned throwing 104 feet. She worked her way up to a first-place throw of 108-8 to win her second straight CVC title, then uncorked a massive PR of 129-10 to win her first Central Jersey Group III gold medal.

“I felt really good after that,” she said. “That actually gave me confidence moving forward. I wasn’t as happy at Meet of Champs but I was happy at Groups.”

Smith had a second-place throw of 123-8 in the Group III state meet and a 119-2 in the Meet of Champions, which placed her ninth. Nottingham throws coach Andrew Parsons noted it was a bad day for all the throwers at the MOC, as three of the top five seeds couldn’t crack the top 10.

“She had a little bit of a shoulder issue, it started acting up again after sectionals,” Parsons said. “She was coming back from it and the Group meet was not her best, and she was disappointed with herself even though she threw her second best for the season. At the Meet of Champs it was just a bad day. A lot of scores weren’t that great.”

Smith still managed to throw farther than last year’s MOC mark and said she felt a bit more comfortable this time, having gone through it once.

“The first year was totally new for her and for myself too,” Parsons said. “She was calm, she was focused, she knew what to do, she did her stretches and then she performed. It just wasn’t a good day for the throwers.”

Nottingham girls head coach Analica Savides does not work as closely with Smith as Parsons does, but there are some things that stood out to her from overseeing everything.

“She’s always very competitive with herself and she wants to be out there practicing every day,” Savides said. “She’s always trying to level up herself and every time we’re at competition, when she sees other girls getting a little further from her she always wants to one-up the person, which is great. She’s just super focused and competitive at all times.”

Savides added that Smith’s laid-back appearance before throwing can be deceiving.

“She’s very quiet and to herself but very sneak-attack kind of competitive,” the coach said. “A lot of girls don’t really know that about her or see that until she’s up there throwing.”

Much of Smith’s success came quickly due to her athleticism.

She still considers basketball her No. 1 sport and will work on that in the offseason, but admits that the two sports “are kind of battling now” for No. 1.

She and Parsons both felt an improved run-up before her release helped increase her marks, and having a year’s experience didn’t hurt.

“I had the basics down, I just needed to improve my distance,” she said. “I think I did pretty good this year. I wasn’t expecting to get as far as I did, but it started clicking at the end of the season.”

One thing that impresses both Savides and Parsons is Smith’s work ethic. She has no problem making up for lost time to try to get better.

“I’ll see her every day being out there for hours,” Savides said. “I’ll say we’re shortening practice and she’ll want to stay out there. She’s a great athlete wanting to progress herself and has a lot of girls to support her, which helps as well.”

Parsons added, “Of all the athletes I’ve coached between swimming and track, she’s the most dedicated I’ve had in a long time.”

Considering Smith was so close to a MOC medal this year, it’s not surprising she is embracing her new sport.

“I feel great,” she said. “I actually really love it. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I do.”

Cheeseborough-Williams has also fallen in love with track, since it has helped him land a college opportunity. He will compete at Rowan this fall.

Not bad for two years of experience.

“Jamel has had an amazing journey,” Hornets jumps coach Jerry Van Slooten said. “He came out for track his junior year and was a high jumper for winter. During the season I saw that he would be better as a long jumper and he switched that spring season.”

Cheeseborough-Williams had a less-than-scintillating debut campaign as he fouled out in both the Mercer County and CVC championships, but he did manage to go 19-5 for eighth place in the Central Jersey Group III meet.

“He had an up-and-down spring season,” Van Slooten said. “He had one big jump in the 22-plus-foot range which put him on the map, but because he was new to long jump he struggled with consistency.”

Entering this past winter season, the senior jumpers wanted to resurrect Hamilton Airlines, a group of standout jumpers in the late 2000s and early 2010s. An Airline member, Richmond Shasha, was a state champion in long jump and triple jump and provided strong support and advice for Williams over the winter.

Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, Shasha watched as “The Cheese” shattered his school record with a first-place jump of 23-9 in the CVC Championships. That came on the heels of winning the Mercer Coaches Classic in 21-9 1/2.

“It was a special moment,” Van Slooten said of the CVC meet. “Everyone started to talk about ‘The Cheese.’ The moment when he called his mom on the phone to tell her he broke the school record was pretty special.

“At one point he was going to quit to get a job. He had been through a lot. At the time no colleges were looking at him and his plan was to go into the military.”

That plan was permanently put on hold, as Williams went on a rampage.

“He really started to gain confidence,” Van Slooten said. “He stacked moment upon moment. He won a sectional championship convincingly and seemed like he was as likely as anyone to win a state championship, Meet of Champs and even a national title.”

He won the CJ III meet with a jump of 23-0 and just missed his PR with a second-place jump of 23-8 in the Group III meet.

“At the state meet his shoe slid on the toe board on his second jump and his heel ripped off his shoe,” Van Slooten explained. “As he took off, the heel of his shoe feathered out like a wing. He hit that jump and floated but didn’t finish and fouled. He regained his composure to qualify for finals and pop a big jump and finish second, losing to his future college roommate at Rowan University, Winslow’s Andrew Kratee.”

Part of “The Cheese’s” success came from the chemistry he had with his teammates, including Brandon and Brian Boswell, Damario Marshall and Alexis Johnson. After moving on to the MOC without them, he had a tough meet with a jump of 19-11.

“They had all grown up together and pushed each other. They were all best friends,” Van Slooten said. “At the Meet of Champions, Jamel moved on without them, and it was a learning moment.”

It could not detract from a season that can safely be called fantastic, considering Williams’ inexperience. He also qualified for the New Balance Nationals, which were held June 21. Van Slooten was optimistic entering that meet.

Upon graduating, Williams left behind a bevy of admirers.

“He’s just a great kid,” Van Slooten said. “Everyone at school likes him — his teachers, his coaches and especially his guidance counselor, Danielle Marasco, who got his late paperwork in to get him ready to live his dream and go to college to jump for Rowan.”

It was a spring full of feel-good stories for Hamilton Township track and field.