Knee Surgery Information

ZACH LEMING
February 16, 2006

For a guy who doesn’t like training rooms, Oliver Williams Jr. sure has spent a lot of time there.

Nebraska’s senior sprinter has been dealing with a nagging left knee injury that neither he nor NU Assistant Coach Matt Martin have been able to identify.

Williams described the injury as one that comes and goes. Sometimes he won’t feel it until he runs and others it will bother him every step he takes.

But he said it really affects him mentally when he feels it pop up during a race.

“If I’m on the blocks and it hurts, my mind is off the race,” Williams said. “It’s not really slowing me down, but it’s getting my focus somewhere else.”

The Central Islip, N.Y., native said when the pain surfaces during a race it forces him to back off, causing his unusually slow times thus far this season.

The 2004 All-American has yet to come near his personal-best time of 6.61 seconds in the 60-meter dash in his four meets this year.

Williams’ best time came during his first meet of the season when he won the 60 meters at the Adidas Classic in January, but he hasn’t placed higher than third since.

Williams, however, isn’t flustered, saying he just has to “run through it” because the injury will probably stay with him the remainder of the indoor season.

“I don’t get disappointed,” Williams said. “If I do then I’ll start doing worse, so I just keep looking forward to the next (race).”

Martin said he’s not going to rush the NU school record holder in the 60 meters to return to his top form because he knows the much longer outdoor season is still on the horizon.

“I’d think by outdoors he’d be caught up training and conditioning wise,” Martin said. “Indoor season goes so fast that if you’re not ready when the semester starts it’s really hard to get back on track.”

Although he’s not trying to push his knee too hard, Williams isn’t letting up on his training in practice.

He said he doesn’t want to be so far behind in his training that he will be affected during the outdoor season.

However, at last week’s Iowa State Classic, Williams said he aggravated the injury while coming around the last turn in the 200-meter dash.

Consequently, he later posted a time of 6.93 in the 60-meter dash, marking his second slowest time of the season.

Martin said it’s frustrating to see a guy in his senior season - a season that was supposed to be the culmination to an already outstanding collegiate career -have such a minor injury have such a major effect.

But he said Williams has put forth maximum effort in practice so he can be ready and help his teammates at the Big 12 Conference Championships in two weeks.

Williams said he wants to run at this weekend’s Prairie Wolf Invitational at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, hoping it will help get his mind ready for Big 12s the following week.

Williams doesn’t want to set too high of a goal for himself for Big 12s and then be disappointed if he doesn’t reach it. But he’s also confident he will be able to contribute to his team.

For now, he’s just concentrating on his form and not worried about his times.

“I just want to run fast and pain free and have fun with it,” Williams said. “If I don’t have fun with it then I’m not going to run fast.”

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