Wylie East sophomore Evangeline Williams won the District 9-6A meet, placed second in Region II-6A and was seventh at the Class 6A state cross country meet. Photo by David Wolman / C&S Media
By David Wolman
When Wylie East sophomore Evangeline Williams needed to make one of the most important decisions in her athletic endeavors, she leaned on her faith for guidance.
As an eighth grader in Southern California, Williams wasn’t passionate about running cross-country. The school she attended didn’t offer cross-country. But upon entering Trabuco Hills High School as a freshman, it didn’t take long for her to change her mind. She saw the team’s potential — a squad that had two future NCAA Division I signees.
But before Williams committed to running cross-country for Trabuco Hills, she turned to God.
“I really leaned on God, and this was what He felt that I should do,” she said. “This was something that I wanted to do, and I knew that my strength is in God.”
It was a decision that Williams didn’t regret. In fact, it proved to be a rewarding one.
Trabuco Hills won the California Interscholastic Federation Division I state title, and the Lady Mustangs placed three runners in the top 10. Williams, who was the team’s No. 5 runner, placed 36th at state. That same school year, the Lady Mustangs placed seventh at the prestigious Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.
Williams’ success in cross-country translated to track and field, where she earned fifth place at the state meet in the 1-mile run.
Two of the team’s seniors — Holly Barker, a freshman at the University of Colorado, and Sophie Guilfole, who runs for Army — made Williams feel welcome and instilled a strong work ethic in her.
“I loved it,” Williams said. “We had great girls on the team. It was super encouraging to see how hard they worked, and it made me work hard. They made me fall in love with the sport.”
Williams’ life changed dramatically this summer. She moved to Wylie with her family on July 5 after her father, John, accepted the position of president at a strategic church network in the Dallas area. Although she was sad to leave her friends behind, it was a sort of homecoming for Williams. She was born in the Dallas area and attended Wylie ISD schools until the third grade.
“I had mixed emotions this summer,” she said. “It was sad to leave friends, but I was ready for a new adventure. I knew I had lived here before, but that was when I was young. However, I was excited to be near family.”
When Williams sought out a high school team to run for, she was looking for a program that was up-and-coming and did a good job developing its runners.
Wylie East proved to be a perfect fit.
The Lady Raiders were reaching new heights under head coach Luke Scribner. Wylie East won its first district title in program history two years ago and repeated as District 9-6A champion last season. Given the amount of returning talent, Williams knew she would fit right in and be a difference-maker.
“They were looking at qualifying for state, and I saw how the girls seemed to be getting faster and peaking at the right time in the season,” Williams said. “Coach Scribner had been doing a lot of great things with the program. He cares a lot and said that we can make it to state. It was super encouraging.”
It didn’t take long for Scribner to see how much Williams could make a major impact.
In her first time competing for Wylie East, Williams placed third at the Southlake Carroll Invitational on Sept. 6 with a time of 17:36, breaking Sarah Scott’s school record for fastest 5K time by more than a minute.
And it wasn’t just at meets where Williams wowed her teammates and coaches. Scribner said she made sure everyone on the team was putting in the miles during practice and meeting up on weekends to run.
“She brought in a mindset of being on a championship-level team and raised the expectation level,” Scribner said. “Everybody knew that she was really, really good and saw the times that she ran last year. I saw someone that could place in the top three in our region and top 10 at state.”
Williams’ championship pedigree showed up in the postseason, where she won the District 9-6A meet with an 18:11 — 29 seconds faster than the event’s runner-up — and took second place at the Region II-6A meet (17:48).
More importantly, she was happy for her team, which earned fourth place at the regional meet for Wylie East’s first-ever team berth in the state meet.
“We were super excited,” Williams said. “I knew there were some tears shed. I knew that we had to have great races to make it to state. To have that happen was super exciting.”
At the Class 6A state meet in Round Rock, Williams earned a spot on the medal stand after placing seventh with a time of 17:49.
“The race definitely went out fast,” she said. “It was a faster first mile than I wanted, but I did better than the last time I ran that course. I was pretty happy about that.”
Her belief in her running abilities goes back to her relationship with God.
In the eighth grade, Williams traveled to Costa Rica for a mission trip.
“It was so much fun,” she said. “I was learning Spanish, and interacting with the kids was the best part. We went to a few different church campuses and schools and planted trees and performed community service.”
Although Wylie East loses three seniors from this season’s team to graduation, the four sophomores — including Williams — are hopeful that this season was the start of big things to come for the Lady Raiders.
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