There was no catching Nixon in 1998
Olympic silver medalist Lauryn Williams is the most decorated female sprinter in WPIAL history but, back in 1998, the Rochester High School product couldn’t beat Wash High’s Tam Nixon.
Then again, neither could anyone else.
“I do tell people when I see Lauryn (race) that I did beat her back in the day,” Nixon said. “It’s kind of cool to be able to say I did that.”
Nixon did plenty during a distinguished career at Washington before running at Kent State University, where she once owned the school’s 60-meter dash indoor record. Her best time of 7.54 seconds, which was set in 2000, still ranks fifth in Kent State history.
Nixon also ranks among Kent State’s best in the 55-meter dash and, in 1999 and 2000, was part of excellent 400-meter relay teams.
But Nixon, 36, who manages a Panera restaurant in the South Hills and occasionally helps her father, Jerome, coach track at Bentworth, made some of her fondest memories running for the Prexies.
And the top individual memory came at the 1998 PIAA Class AA Championships at Shippensburg University.
The year before, Nixon won WPIAL gold in the 100 and 200 dashes, but a stress fracture in her right foot at the end of the season factored into her finishes at the state meet, which were still excellent. Nixon took silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200.
It also provided motivation for her senior year.
“I was so bummed I placed second (in the 100) my junior year,” Nixon said. “I felt I could do better.”
A cousin of four-time state champion Laila Brock, Nixon stayed healthy enough her senior year to carve her own niche in the rich history of Wash High track. Nixon, Brock and Alyssa Wise are the only three female athletes from Washington to win PIAA gold medals in individual sprints.
She just didn’t know a freshman from Beaver County would be her primary competition.
“I had no idea who Lauryn was until, probably, the WPIAL championships,” said Nixon. “But when I saw her run, I could tell she was very talented and, when I got to talk to her, she was very down to earth.”
Williams did otherwordly things while at Rochester, but Nixon kept her from the top of the medals stand in 1998.
“We worked our girls very hard, as Tam would attest to, and she was willing to work hard,” former Washington track coordinator Guy Montecalvo said, who went on to credit Nixon’s humility and pleasant demeanor as contributing factors to her success athletically and professionally.
After besting Williams by one-hundreth (11.97 to 11.98) of a second in an electric WPIAL Class AA final, Nixon again edged the future two-time Olympian by four-hundreths of a second (12.14 to 12.18) for a gold medal-winning performance. Williams got the better start out of the blocks, but Nixon caught at the 50-meter mark and went on to win.
“I remember thinking that it was my senior year and it was my time to shine,” Nixon said. “I couldn’t let a freshman beat me, no matter how good she was.”
Nixon added a second-place finish in the 200, giving her four top-three finishes in the sprints in a two-year period, and she finished her distinguished scholastic career with three PIAA titles. Besides the PIAA 100 title, Nixon, Brock, Dana Bryant and Nina Vallee composed Wash High’s winning 400 relay team in 1996, the year Brock, Nixon’s cousin, helped the Prexies win the team title.
“Tam would have been part of our winning relay team in ’95, but she was injured,” Montecalvo said. “As a sophomore, she played a big role in helping us win a state title. … At the time we won the title, there was only one team from Western Pennsylvania that had won the girls title, and that was Farrell. And, as far as I know, no one from Western Pennsylvania has done it (in Class AA) since.”
Just like no one beat Williams at the WPIAL and PIAA stage after Nixon did so in 1998, but despite those bragging rights, her favorite athletic memory is one she shares with a few other Prexies.
“Winning that state team title, and sharing that – I think there was seven girls on the team at states – was special,” Nixon said. “I love being known as one of the track girls from Wash High.”
Mike Kovak is assistant night editor at Observer-Reporter. His email address is mkovak@observer-reporter.com.