Roisin Willis named Gatorade National Girls Track and Field Player of the Year
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (BVM) — It was announced Wednesday that Stevens Point, Wis., native Roisin Willis will be the 2020-21 Gatorade National Girls Track and Field Player of the Year.
“I just turned my head and I saw my mom with the award, my jaw just dropped and I started shaking,” Willis said during a press conference prior to the announcement. “It’s just such an honor to receive this award. … Pure shock.”
Willis, a soon-to-be senior at Stevens Point Area High School (SPASH), is also a two-time Gatorade Wisconsin Girls Track & Field Player of the Year and just finished up an impressive junior season that saw her compete in her first-ever Olympic Trials. However, the success that the 16-year-old runner has had hasn’t come easy and at times even seemed unattainable.
“This year was definitely rewarding and I had a lot of success but there were times where it was so tough,” Willis said. “I was like, ‘Am I ever going to get to the Olympic Trials?” It’s been my goal for so long. So to be able to get to the trials and then to receive this award on top of it is just incredible. I couldn’t have expected all of this could happen in one year after a whole year off.”
That year off took its toll on Willis to the point where, looking back on it now, she is nothing but proud of how far she has come in just a year.
“This time a year ago I was a complete mess so to be here today is unreal like how much improvements I’ve made,” Willis said.
The physical improvements are obvious. Willis ran an under-18 world record time 2:00.78 in the 800-meter race at the Trials of Miles New York City Qualifier just to get into the Olympic Trials. She also set a state record in the 1,600-meter race with a time of 4:41.46 which also ranked No. 6 nationally. But it was the mental side of her game that Willis says she improved on since last year.
“Mentally I was not in a great place and I had to take some time off running just to like reset and I didn’t really put in a great year of training last year if I’m being completely honest,” Willis said. “I got started really late training for track and I didn’t even know if there would be an Olympic Trial so I had no goals and very little motivation. I didn’t know what my future would be like, I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself so it wasn’t a great time, but I’m just really excited I was able to come back from that and all these things have happened this year. I’m just really grateful for all that’s happened.”
The best example of how strong Willis has become took place in Chicago at the CYUP Cabin Fever Invite back in March. Willis was attempting to qualify for the Olympic Trials and needed to have a time of 2:02.50 or lower.
At the Chicago event, Willis believed she was flying across the track, but when the race ended, she was shocked to see she had run a 2:04.64, almost a full second slower than her PR time of 2:03.85 she had just ran in Austin. After the race, it came out that there had been an error on the part of the officials and Willis had actually ran over 800 meters. It is believed that had there not been an error Willis would have qualified for the trials at the invite.
For someone trying to achieve what Willis was working towards, that is a heartbreaking moment and one that could derail someone who is running out of time, but not for Willis. She persevered and took care of business in New York City.
In the U.S. Olympic Trials, Willis made it to the semifinals, and although that would be the end of her Olympic hopes for Tokyo, the experience has only intensified her determination to come back in four years.
“I think it made me realize, ‘OK you truly love track,’ because if I didn’t love track that would have been way too intense and I would have freaked out,” Willis said.
She knows she needs more training, but the 16-year-old will be ready for her next chance to make Team USA.
“I’m excited to go back when I have more training under my belt,” Willis said.
For now, Willis is excited to take a break for a little before she begins running again in the fall. Due to the Olympic Trials, Willis only competed in two events with her high school and she missed her team.
That’s good news for SPASH but bad news for the rest of Wisconsin who will have to go up against one of the best up-and-coming track stars in the country.
