Williams Advances To 100-Meter Final

Aug. 6, 2003

Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic (hurricanesports.com) – University of Miami All-American Lauryn Williams (Rochester, PA) won her semifinal heat in a time of 11.53 seconds to advance to the 100-meter final at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The women’s 100-meter final is scheduled Wednesday evening at 6:35 p.m. The preliminaries of the 100-meters were cancelled Tuesday morning due to poor weather forcing officials to hold three semifinal heats during the evening session.

“There were a lot of distractions with the hold-up and the race starting late but I’m happy to get into the finals for tomorrow,” said Williams. “All the officials were speaking in Spanish and pointing in every direction, so I didn’t know what was going on for a while. I was still able to get the job done. It wasn’t a great performance but I can’t complain. I get to move on and get a chance in the finals for tomorrow.”

Williams is no stranger to international competition. The Miami junior won the 2002 World Junior Championship at 100-meters last summer and posted a career best time of 11.20 seconds at last seasons NCAA East Regional Championships in Fairfax, VA.

Williams is already a five-time All-American and last season earned All-America honors in the 60-meters, 100-meters and 4×100-meter relay. She is currently the UM record holder in four events including the 55-meters, 60-meters, 100-meters and 4×100-meter relay.