Jumpin' With Excitement

"I'm excited, really excited," Jesse Williams tells one and all.

And it's obvious why the the North Carolina-reared, California-schooled, Kansas-trained, Oregon-resident high jump star is bursting with exuberance heading into Olympic year 2012.

He came to St. Louis to accept the Jesse Owens Award as USA Track and Field's men's athlete of the year and played a starring role in the gala banquet that packed the Hyatt Regency ballroom as the feature festivity of USATF's Annual Meeting.