Two months after helping her high school soccer team win a state championship Sam Woods played a key role in helping the Benjamin School win a state title in track and field.
Woods, the daughter of Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren, had a busy day for her Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, school at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A girls track and field championship in Jacksonville on May 10.
The 17-year-old senior, who is graduating this month and planning to attend Stanford, competed in the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles, and also ran legs on the Buccaneers’ 4x800- and 4x400-meter relays at University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville.
Woods ran the third leg of the Buccaneers’ 4x800 team that finished second in 9:32.40, less than a half a second behind the state champion squad from Providence School (9:28.01). She also ran the third leg on Benjamin’s fourth-place 4x400 team (4:01.83).
The Benjamin School earned 61 points, topping Tallahassee Maclay by 16 points for the 1A title. The Benjamin boys’ team placed second in the state meet
In her individual events, Woods finished 17th in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles (20.05) and finished 20th in the 400-meter hurdles (1:11.95).
Benjamin’s top state meet performers included junior Sofia Balistreri, who won the 800 (2:14.47) and placed third in the 1600 (5:12.55), and junior Akari Marshall, who was second in the 100 (12.22), third in the 200 (24.23). The Buccaneers 4x100-meter relay team also placed second (48.11).
As a junior, Woods placed seventh in the state meet in the 400-meter hurdles in a personal best 1:05.84. According to MileSplit, Woods’ other personal best times include 13.94 for 100 meters, 16.52 for 100-meter hurdles, 28.58 for 200 meters, and 1:03.22 for 400 meters.
The state track and field championship was held less than 10 miles from The Players Stadium Course, where her father won two titles in the PGA Tour, in 2001 and 2013. Tiger Woods is tied for the most PGA tour wins in history (82) with Sam Snead. Woods won 16 PGA titles in Florida, the most he has won in any state.
In addition to track and field, Sam Woods was a member of Benjamin’s soccer team that beat Episcopal School 1-0 on March 1 to seal the FHSAA 2A state championship for the Lady Buccaneers. She can often be spotted serving as a caddie for her father and younger brother Charlie, but has no plans to take up professional golf herself.
Brian Metzler is a Boulder, Colorado, writer and editor whose work has appeared in Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Outside, Trail Runner, The Chicago Tribune, and Red Bulletin. He’s a former walk-on college middle-distance runner who has transitioned to trail running and pack burro racing in Colorado.
