Williams Wins NCAA Title
June 11, 2004
Austin, Texas (hurricanesports.com) – University of Miami junior Lauryn Williams (Rochester, Pa.) captured her first national title on Friday winning the 100-meters in a blistering 10.97 seconds at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas.
Williams winning time was wind-legal, and is the fastest time in the world this year and the fifth fastest in NCAA history. She is the only women this year to post wind-legal sub 11 second time.
Williams, who is undefeated in finals races this season (8-0), is the third Hurricane woman to win an individual NCAA title and the first since Yolanda McCray won the 100-meter hurdles at the 1999 NCAA Championships in Boise, Idaho. Gillian Russell captured five NCAA hurdle titles from 1992-95.
Earlier in the day Williams ran the second leg of the 4×100-meter relay along with junior Chinela Davis (Haverstraw, N.Y.), sophomore Dominique Darden (Harrisburg, Pa.) and sophomore India Ransom (Largo, Md.) that finished third with a time of 43.71, the second fastest time in school-history and the best by a UM relay at the NCAA Championships.
The third-place finish garners the foursome All-America honors and marks the best finish by a UM relay at the NCAA Championships. For Darden and Williams it marks the second consecutive season in which they have earned All-America honors as members of the 4×100-meter relay, while Davis and Ransom earn the distinction for the first time.
Later in the evening Darden qualified for the 400-meter hurdle final placing second in her preliminary heat with a time of 57.39 seconds. Her time is the seventh fastest of the qualifying round. Darden, who had not competed in the event prior to this season, is the first Hurricane to reach the NCAA 400-meter final since Patrina Allen in 1998.
In the triple jump preliminaries freshman Brenda Faluade (Katy, Texas) and senior Kitoya Carter (Miami Northwestern) both advanced to Saturday’s final. Faluade recorded a mark of 13.15 meters (43-01.75) while Carter posted a mark of 13.11 meters (43-00.25).
The NCAA Championships conclude Saturday. CBS will air a two-hour recap of the NCAA Championships on Saturday, June 19th.
