Amanze Williams: The Naugatuck Greyhounds' Triple Threat

The Naugatuck boys track team won the Naugatuck Valley League outdoor track championship meet on Tuesday scoring a team total of 112 points easily outpacing second place Woodland at 81 points and regular season champion Watertown was a distant third.

The Greyhounds relied on a trio of go-to guys in , and to capture the championship meet.

Gee sprinted to two gold medals winning the 100 meter dash in 11.19 and the 200 meters with a time of 22.59. Hrezi the long distance specialist captured two gold medals winning the mile in 4:32.08 and the two mile with an effort of 10:01.16.

But it was Amanze Williams that was named the championships meet MVP for the second year in a row as he took home three gold medals competing in three events.

Last year at the NVL championship meet Williams was named the meets MVP taking gold in the long jump and triple jump with a second place finish in the high jump.

This year the senior track star who is bound for UConn in the fall on a track scholarship, took gold in all three events.

Williams won the high jump with a six foot effort and took first in the triple jump at 45 feet 9 inches. But it was the long jump that brought the most excitement to the championship meet.

Sacred Heart’s Denzel Washington held the one and a half foot lead over Williams as he approached his final attempt. The Naugatuck senior had missed his last two attempts fouling and having his efforts not counting.

But on the last and final attempt Williams hit his mark and cleared the distance of 22 feet 7 and one quarter inches to beat his competitor by a foot.

“The runway at Woodland is not as long as I’m use to,” explained Williams. “I had to make an adjustment to my steps and once I got that down I was comfortable going into my final jump.”

This is the second time that Williams has been named as the . During the indoor track season Williams posted a school record 6 feet 4 inches in the high jump at the Yale Invitational.

The senior track star now owns the school record in all three jumping events having obliterated the triple jump mark in last years NVL championship meet with a new NVL record of 47 feet 8 inches.    

“Amanze has joined a long line of accomplished track athletes at Naugatuck High School,” said Naugatuck head track coach Ralph Roper. “A few years back we had another track star in Joe Ardito who missed out being an All-American finishing one inch behind at the Nationals.”

Roper added, “Amanze gives this team confidence going into a meet. He is quiet but makes his noise on the track. He is not only a hard working excellent athlete he is an accomplished student and an all around great kid.”

With the Class LL track meet coming up Amanze has his sights set on another state championship. At last years Class LL he won the triple jump state championship and finished 3rd in the long jump and 4th in the high jump. At the New England Championships he was 5th in the long jump and 6th in the triple jump.

“Obviously it would be great to finish out my high school career winning all three state titles,” said Williams. “But there is a lot of competition out there and I will just concentrate on doing my best and trying to beat my personal best.”

He added, “I’m looking forward to competing in college but I still have some unfinished business to take care of at the states before I start concentrating on the next phase of my athletic career.”