Women's Track Places 10th At NCAA Championships
June 12, 2004
Austin, Texas (hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami women’s track and field team scored in both the 400-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay Saturday evening to finish tied for tenth at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas.
The Hurricanes’ tenth-place finish and 22 points marks the best finish and highest point total ever recorded by a UM team at the NCAA Championships. Miami’s previous best finish was a tie for 17th in 1995. That season also marked the Hurricanes’ previous high scoring total with 15 points.
UCLA won the team title with 69 points edging LSU which finished second with 68 points.
“I am very pleased with how we performed this weekend,” said head coach Amy Deem. “We had great performances from Lauryn Williams and Dominique Darden. I thought they were both outstanding and showed great team leadership.”
Sophomore Dominique Darden (Harrisburg, Pa.) earned All-America honors in the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday placing fifth in a time of 57.03 seconds. Darden, who had not competed in the 400-meter hurdles prior to this season, is just the second Hurricane earn All-America honors in the event joining Patrina Allen in 1998.
On Friday Darden and Lauryn Williams were members of the third-place 4×100-meter relay. That evening Williams captured her first NCAA Championships in the 100-meters winning in a blistering time of 10.97 seconds, the fastest time in the world this season and the fifth fastest time in NCAA history.
Saturday’s NCAA competition concluded with 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 finished eighth with a time of 3:31.70 marking the third consecutive season in which UM’s mile relay has garnered All-America honors.
Earlier in the day freshman Brenda Faluade (Katy, Texas) finished 10th with a mark of 13.00 meters (42-08.00) in the triple jump final to earn All-America honors for the second time of her young career. Faluade earned All-America honors in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor championships earlier this season. Kitoya Carter (Miami Northwestern) placed 12th in the triple jump with a leap of 12.82 meters (42-00.75).
Miami set a school record with 12 All-America honors during the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships bettering the old mark of 10 set last season. The Hurricanes have now registered a total of 80 All-America honors (50 outdoor, 30 indoor) since the 1991 season.
