Tony Williams III, a Mojave high school senior who recently broke his team’s 400 meter track record with a time of 47.77 seconds, poses for a photo Thursday, April 25, 2024 with his mother, Monique Lewis, who also holds a record at the school in the 100 meter and 200 meter relay.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Tony Williams III had little interest in joining the track team at Mojave High School.
He was part of the school’s state champion basketball team and focused on the sport year around.
Track coach Shenoa Davis was persistent in her recruitment, eventually convincing Williams last spring to become a sprinter on the team. Once Williams started running, it didn’t take Davis long to make a comparison.
His form, mannerisms and lanky appearance on the track looked familiar — just like mom. Monique Lewis, Williams’ mother, was a state champion sprinter for Mojave 20 years ago, and the comparisons were easy to make, Davis said.
Davis should know: She also coached Lewis.
“He’s a natural runner. I saw that when he came out last year,” Davis said. “If he was willing to put in the work, which he was, he was going to have success.”
Mother and son have one more trait in common: They are two of the best sprinters in Mojave High School history. Lewis’ 100-meter sprint and 4x200-meter relay teams set school records in the late 1990s and early 2000s that have held up over the years.
Williams shattered the school record in the 400 meters at 47.77 seconds in a meet this month, meaning both mother and son will have their names listed on a wall in the gym lobby documenting the top times in school history.
“That’s pretty cool,” Williams said, glancing at his mom’s name.
Williams comes from a family of notable athletes.
His father, also Tony Williams, set the record in the 800 meters at Desert Pines in 2002. It still stands.
His uncle, Maxwell Lewis, is a rookie with the Los Angeles Lakers. Another uncle, Marcus Lewis, played college football at Iowa State.
Williams credits the training in basketball for helping the transition to track, because “in basketball, we do a lot of running to stay in shape.”
Monique Lewis never encouraged her son to try track. Rather, like most parents, she supported him in whatever endeavor he picked. And now that he’s on the team — and having success — she’s like any other parent in the stands watching.
On the drive home from meets, little is said about his performance. Davis is the coach, after all, and has the family’s trust.
“Proud, for sure,” Lewis said of her son’s accomplishments. “I never would have thought he’d pick (track) up so quickly.”
Once Williams started winning races, “it built his confidence, for sure,” Lewis said.
Establishing traditions
Davis doubles as Mojave’s athletic director, where part of her responsibilities include getting athletes registered to compete. Over the past few years, she’s noticed some familiar names — and that’s been downright refreshing. Williams isn’t the lone legacy athlete.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “I still think of them as my kids, and now they have kids of their own.”
Davis grew up in a one-high school town in Illinois, where there was a tremendous sense of community centered on the school’s events. Children counted the years until it was their turn to play for the school.
When she arrived at Mojave in the late 1990s, that community feel was missing. The school opened in 1996 and was still working to establish its traditions.
It’s a tradition that now includes Williams’ school-record time. He broke the mark of 49.05 seconds set by Christoper McSwain in 2008.
“Tony is so even-keeled. It’s tough to know when he’s feeling upset or excited because he’s so quiet,” said Davis, who has coached at the school for nearly two decades minus a brief stint at Chaparral. “When he broke the record, it was a proud moment for everyone.”
Her husband, Donnie, coaches track and football at Mojave. Two of their children are Mojave graduates.
The Rattler alumni base includes both of their basketball coaches. Boys coach KeJuan Clark went from Mojave player to state-champion coach in leading the Ratters to the title in 2021 and 2022. New girls coach Sequoia Holmes played in the WNBA as part of a lengthy professional career and is considered the most notable Mojave alumnus.
Williams said his mother never bragged about her prep accomplishments. Rather, she got out of the way and let her son pave his own path.
It’s a path that could land him on a college track roster, Davis said. A handful of schools have reached out in recent weeks, which is the product of his sub 50-second time in the 400.
“I wish I would have run before,” Williams said. “I always knew I was fast.”
