EUGENE, Ore.- Monmouth freshman Laura Williams (Burlington, N.J./Burlington) took fifth in the 400m hurdles at the 2011 U.S. Junior National Championships held in Eugene Oregon on Saturday evening.
Williams' time of 1:01.14 earned her Junior All-American honors as she finished just two spots away from representing the U.S. Team at the Junior Pan-Am Championships next month in Florida.
"This is a great accomplishment for Laura and for Coach Brian Hirschblond," said MU head coach Joe Compagni. "She has done a great job the last few months and has a bright future ahead of her."
Williams earned a spot in Saturday's finals after a fourth place finish in the preliminaries on Friday. The US Junior Nationals serve as the selection meet for the 2011 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, July 22-24, in Miramar, Fla. The top two finishers in each event in Eugene will be invited to compete as members of Team USA. The USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships will serve as the selection meet for the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Aug. 27 - Sept. 4) - Daegu, Korea and the 2011 Pan American Games (Oct. 24 - 29) Guadalajara, Mexico.
400m Hurdles Results
Place Athlete Name Affiliation Time
1 Angelica Weaver California 59.83
2 Tia Gamble Texas Faces 59.92
3 Dotrine Jacobs North Carolina A&T 1:00.18
4 Sylvonna Thompson Prarie View 1:00.27
5 Laura Williams Monmouth University, West Long 1:01.14
6 Kayla Stueckle Washington 1:03.06
7 Donna Jeanty State University of New York a 1:04.19
8 Amber Allen South Carolina 1:26.20
DAY ONE RELEASE:
MU'S WILLIAMS ADVANCES TO U.S. JUNOR NATIONAL FINALS
EUGENE, Ore.- Monmouth University freshman Laura Williams (North Brunswick, N.J./North Brunswick) took second in her heat and fourth overall in the preliminaries of the 400 hurdles at the 2011 U.S. Junior Nationals held in Eugene, Oregon on Friday afternoon.
Williams finished fourth overall in the preliminaries of the 400 hurdles, advancing to tomorrow's finals with a time of 1:01.37. The top two in each heat and the next four fastest times from the preliminaries advance to the finals, which will be at 5:40 p.m. tomorrow. The top two qualifiers in the event were frehmen from the University of California and South Carolina University.
"It was tremendous to have three of our team members competing against the best freshman in the country in front of a big crowd here in 'Track Town USA," said MU head coach Joe Compagni. "The fact that the meet is combined with the U.S. Championships is even better in terms of the exposure for Monmouth and the experience for our students."
Williams, a valuable part of the Hawks' team title as she earned the Most Valuable Freshman honors at the NEC Championships in May, has an opportunity to earn U.S.A. Junior All-American honors with a top eight finish tomorrow. She would become Monmouth's first Junior All-American since 2004. Only one other female and three others total in school history has earned Junior All-America honors.
The Hawks have a total of three current athletes and one alumni competing at the event. Earlier in the afternoon freshman Rachel Aliotta (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) took 11th in the shot put with a distance of 42' 11" (13.08m). Jalen Walker's (Burlington, N.J./Burlington) time of 14.41 in the 110 hurdles placed the freshman 12th. Former MU All-American Bobby Smith '05 will compete in the Javelin beginning at 5:35, PST.
Williams will compete tomorrow at 5:40 tomorrow evening in front of a crowd that should be close to capacity at 12,000 spectators. Live results and webcast at www.usatf.org
Meet television schedule:
ESPN2, June 24 11:00 pm-1:00 am ET
ESPN2 Re-air, June 25 1:00 -3:00 pm ET
Universal, June 25 3:00-4:30 pm ET
NBC, June 25 5:00-6:00 pm ET
Universal, June 26 3:00-4:00 pm ET
NBC, June 26 5:00-6:00 pm ET
There will also be a live webcast--check for details at:
http://www.usatf.org/events/2011/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/index.asp
Key Links
http://trackandfieldnews.com/
http://www.registerguard.com/web/sports/trackandfield/
http://www.letsrun.com/
www.dyestat.com
http://www.milesplit.com/
