Williams Runs World's Fastest Time At NCAA Preliminaries
June 10, 2004
Austin, Texas (hurricanesports.com) – University of Miami junior Lauryn Williams (Rochester, Pa.) began her quest for her first NCAA Championship in spectacular fashion on Thursday posting a wind-aided time of 10.94 in her preliminary heat, the fastest time in the world under any condition this season.
Williams, who also owns the fastest legal mark in the world this year (11.01), joins Marion Jones as the only women this season to post times under 11 seconds. Jones recorded a wind-aided time of 10.99 on May 22 at the Home Depot Track and Field Invitational in Carson, Calif.
“This is way beyond anything I expected,” said Williams after the race. “I felt really good yesterday and was disappointed I didn’t get to run. I was a little nervous heading into today’s race but fortunately I was able to keep my focus.”
Williams improves to 8-0 in 100-meter competition this season and enters Friday’s final with a streak of seven consecutive finals victories.
Seven of the nation’s top eight ranked sprinters advanced to the 100-meter final including each of the top-five. Among them was Muna Lee of LSU who posted a wind-aided time of 11.01 to win her preliminary heat.
“When I saw Muna run 11.01 it gave me even more incentive to run a faster time,” added Williams. “This season I have run consistently around 11 seconds so I knew I had the ability to run under 11.”
Friday’s NCAA 100-meter final is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. Williams will also run in the 4×100-meter relay final scheduled for 7 p.m.
“The final will be very competitive,” said Williams. “I expect the competition to be fierce.”
In other action, freshman Tabia Charles (Pickering, Ontario) finished eighth in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 6.37 meters (20-10.75) to earn All-America honors for the third time this season.
Charles, who earned All-America honors in the long jump and triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships earlier this season, is also scheduled to compete in the preliminaries of the triple jump on Friday.
Miami 4×400-meter relay of junior Wiande Moore (Spring, Texas), freshman Ginou Etienne (Miami Central), senior Kitoya Carter (Miami Northwestern) and sophomore Charlette Greggs (Miami Northwestern) finished third in its preliminary heat with a time of 3:30.77 to advance to Saturday’s final. The time was the fifth fastest of the preliminaries and is the second fastest in school-history.
In the heptathlon, junior Amber Williams (Succassuna, N.J.) finished 17th with 5,091 points. Williams is the first Hurricane heptathlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
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