Inside Bartlesville High School alum Henry Williams' inspiring journey to Olympic trials

Bartlesville High School's list of boys cross country kings of the course during the past 25 years is impressive — Ryan Starr, Blake Culp, Joey McNair, Brett Turowski, Krishan Baniqued and Spencer Hales, to name the elite.

Add to that dynamic directory of dust-eating dashers the name of Henry Williams.

Williams has pushed his running talents the full distance — as a qualifier for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, set to be held next February in Orlando, Fla.

It's an amazing story. Williams qualified last Sunday (in New York) — with a sizzling time of 2:17 — in just his second-ever marathon.

"I'm so happy for him," said mom Stevie Williams. "He's always loved long-distance running over everything else. When he got to Cornell, he set his sights on running a marathon."

In fact, it was just 12 months ago when Williams made his marathon (26.2 miles) debut, a month after he had stormed to second (1:14.36) in a half-marathon, in Geneseo, N.Y.

Williams didn't run another marathon until this past Sunday, when he burst to 35th place at the McKirdy MicroMarathon, a few miles north of New York City, with an Olympic trials-qualifying time of 2:17.51.

"I was very focused," said Williams, who at a young age switched from soccer to running. "Every run was purposeful leading up to this race. I cut out the distractions. I was really dialed in."

Williams is looking forward to being in the field of 150 marathon trial hopefuls in Florida — where he plans to stay a few weeks prior to the trials in order to acclimate to running in the balmy weather compared to Ithaca, N.Y. where he lives now — but he isn't obsessed with qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

"My goal was to make it to the Olympic trials," he explained. "Once I get there I'll do my best."

That attitude exemplified his dedication to excellence even back in high school.

"He's always been a hard worker," Bartlesville High cross country/track head coach David Ayres said. "He's a great young man."

And a dauntless, persistent runner. Some of his high school highlights include

— Completing 22 5K's in less than 17 minutes, including six runs of less than 16 minutes.

— Being the fastest Bruin runner in 19 of the team's 35 meets during his career and the second-fastest in another nine competitions.

— Turning in only one time above 18:00, and that was when he was a freshman.

— Winning first place in both the 2016 Meet of Champions and the Oklahoma-Arkansas All-Stars meet.

— And being a double gold medalist twice (2016, 2017) at the state track meet in both the 1600m and 3200m runs.

Stevie recalls when Henry's passion for running began.

"When I turned 40, Jack (Henry's brother and also a Bruin runner), Henry and I ran in a 5K together," she said. "He was probably 10 years old. It was at that moment they just sort of took off. I've never been able to catch them again."

Within the next few years, the goal-oriented Williams began to dream big. After he ran a Bartlesville-area 5K in 17 or 18 minutes, when he was 13-year-old, he looked up what time he would need to reach to run a 5K in the Olympics.

"I thought to myself, I needed to shave off four minutes in 10 years," he said.

But Williams realized later in his career that perception was more about wishful thinking than a realistic objective for him.

It didn't help when he endured a disappointing college running career at the University of Tulsa.

"I kind of fell short of my potential," he said. "But I wanted to keep running without the pressure of being a student-athlete."

That's when serendipity stepped in to rewrite Williams' destiny.

After he started working on his PhD (mechanical engineering) at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Williams struck up a friendship with Italian marathon national champion.

"He really taught me how to train for the marathon," Williams said.

"He's been training for the marathon for two years," his father John Williams said. He's definitely got a lot of perseverance. It helps to have that stamina to run that long distance. He's very goal-driven and follows through on those passions."

Williams vividly remembers his first marathon (Oct. 2, 2022).

"Sometimes, you kind of feel like you're watching yourself from a third-person perspective," he explained about the feeling in the final few miles. "You almost have to get in that state for the amount of pain you're in. ... That's when things tend to collapse. Running a marathon feels like a dream."

The pursuit of greatness — such as earning a spot in the U.S. Olympic trials — also has some rough edges away from the course.

In speaking about some of the financial challenges, Williams said he wears discounted shoes, hasn't bought new running shoes in a long while, shares motel rooms with other runners at competitions and shaves living costs in other ways.

"I do it because I love it," Williams added.

He's also in the place where he wants to be at this point in his life.

"I wanted to continue to live in a university atmosphere," he said. "I think there's a lot of integrity on college campuses. ... I'm lucky to be where I'm passionate about my research. ... Cornell is really a great place. Everyone here has big goals and everybody here is very driven."

Such as when Williams spearheaded Bartlesville's romp to the boys cross country state championship in 2016 — his happiest overall memory from those prep years.

He's also grateful for the nurturing by his coaches — he wanted to give a shout-out to Bruin mentors Bon Bennett, David Ayres and Brett Turowski — and his family.

"We always tried to provide the support for their activities," John said about his children, including daughter Liza and youngest son Max. "We tried to point them in the right decision and hoped they made the right decision. It was their own sense of purpose that drove them individually."

John said he and his wife hope to travel to Florida to watch Williams compete in the Olympic trials.

And, if he earns a spot in Paris, their travel budget might again be dented.

Williams' achievement goes back to a brutally hard choice he had to make as teenager between soccer and running.

He called it 'deproving,' his grandfather Joe Williams said.

Deproving, as Henry explained it, had to do with coming to the tough realization he felt like he sensed a loss of performance in soccer.

"I couldn't explain the feeling of regression," he explained.

The bottom line was that Williams switched his full focus to running — and that made all the difference in his athletic expression and put him on a long course of excellence.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: How a Bartlesville grad qualified for 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials