Williams Win East Regional 100-Meter Title
May 29, 2004
Gainesville, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – University of Miami junior All-American Lauryn Williams (Rochester, Pa.) captured the 100-meter title and ran the second leg of the East Regional champion 4×100-meter relay to lead the 10th-ranked Hurricane women’s track and field team at the 2004 NCAA East Regional Track and Field Championship in Gainesville, Fla.
Williams, who has the fastest time in the world this season at 100-meters and currently ranks No. 1 in NCAA, cruised to an easy victory in an East Regional record time of 11.16 seconds.
“It is always great to break a record and leave my mark,” said Williams who improves to 4-0 this season in 100-meter finals. “Winning today gets me even more excited about the NCAA Championships. There is going to be a lot of great competition which will hopefully push me to run even faster.”
Miami put together a strong team effort on Saturday qualifying sixth individuals and two relays for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, June 9-12, in Austin, Texas. The Hurricanes finished third overall with 62 points. Host Florida won the team title with 85 points while South Carolina took second (67 points).
“I’m really proud of how we performed this weekend,” said head coach Amy Deem. “We are really coming together at the right time. We set a lot of personal bests which is all you can ask as a coach.”
The Hurricanes opened and closed the day with relay victories.
Miami opened the day by winning the regional championship in the 4×100-meter relay. The team of junior Chinela Davis (Havenstraw, N.Y.), Lauryn Williams, sophomore Dominique Darden (Harrisburg, Pa.) and sophomore India Ransom (Largo, Md.) finished with a time of 43.86 seconds to knock off South Carolina, the defending East Regional Champion.
Miami then closed the competition with a victory in the 4×400-meter relay. Miami’s relay of junior Wiande Moore (Spring, Texas), freshman Ginou Etienne (Miami Central), senior Kitoya Carter (Miami Northwestern), and sophomore Charlette Greggs (Miami Northwestern) finished with a winning time of 3:32.10. Miami, which entered the regional ranked fourth in the nation, defeated intrastate rival Florida and third ranked South Carolina.
Greggs and Etienne both qualified for the NCAA Championships in the open 400-meters. Greggs finished third in a season-best time of 51.80 seconds while Etienne placed fifth in a personal best time of 51.94 seconds.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Dominique Darden continued her impressive season finishing second with a school-record time of 56.59 seconds. Darden, who earned All-American honors last season in both the 4×100-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay, had not competed in the 400-meter hurdles prior to this season.
Two Hurricane freshmen qualified for the NCAA Championships in the triple jump. Tabia Charles (Pickering, Ontario) placed third with a mark of 13.27 meters (43-06.50) while Brenda Faluade (Katy, Texas) placed fourth with a personal best leap of 13.18 meters (43-03.00). Kitoya Carter, the defending NCAA East Regional Champion in the triple jump, placed seventh with a mark of 12.93 meters (42-05.25).
