3-Sport Athlete Ferris’ Ty Williams Loves Challenge Of Competition

Most people believe teenagers today don’t know what they’re going to do with themselves during the weekend, let alone the rest of their lives. They should meet Ty Williams.

Williams, a junior, is a three-sport student-athlete at Ferris High School.

How he makes time for school, studying, practice and devoting himself to neighborhood kids and his Christian faith is beyond most people’s comprehension. Yet he does it all.

“I couldn’t do anything without God,” he said.

Williams, a Spokane native, and his mother, Terrie Person, are a close unit.

“She’s pretty much the glue to everything. She and God,” Williams said.

He also knows that having an education is important, said track coach and friend James Fisher.

“I like school a lot,” said Williams. “I’m planning on being an elementary school teacher and a coach,” he said.

Eventually, Williams would like to teach high school.

Recently Williams had an opportunity to work with young children at Ferris High School, and he is also involved in S.A.D.D. (Students Against Drunk Driving).

“I work with kids in the summer and help with drug prevention around my neighborhood,” he said.

“He is a natural with small kids,” Fisher said. “I know he wants to achieve.

“It takes a strong faith, and I think he’s getting that. He’s willing to make that commitment.”

For now, Williams is competing in pole vault and high jump in preparation for his third Greater Spokane League track season. He is also training for the Dan O’Brien High School Decathlon Championships.

Williams met O’Brien last June at Washington State University at a track camp. O’Brien was in town training for the Olympics and watched Williams compete and liked what he saw. He invited Williams to work out with him.

Williams finished in sixth place at the competition.

“It was exciting,” Williams said. “I liked working with him. He was a cool guy.”

Williams likes the competitiveness of track and the challenge of competing 1-on-1.

This past wrestling season, Williams weighed in at 175 as an alternate wrestler and placed fifth at the regional meet. Ferris was swept at that meet, though, and unable to compete at the state tournament.

Although it seems Williams will achieve success through track, his first love is football. He is a second-year running back and finds that football keeps him more in shape for wrestling than track does.

“Football is my favorite sport. But there’s a lot more scholarships handed out in track than in football,” he said. “Football would be my first choice, if I had an opportunity to choose.”

Given half a chance, most coaches would like the opportunity to have him on their team, whatever the sport.

“He’s a young man with a lot of talent,” said Fisher.

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