University of Illinois
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Illinois' Trio Of 100 Meter Hurdlers All Advance To Semifinals
May 31, 2001 | Women's Track & Field
May 31, 2001
Eugene, Oregon - Consider part one of the three-part mission accomplished for Illinois' trio of 100 meter hurdlers. Susanna Kallur, Perdita Felicien, and Jenny Kallur all qualified today in the preliminaries of the 100m hurdles, during day two action of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.
Freshman Susanna Kallur won her heat with ease, clocking a wind-aided time of 12.83 seconds (wind: +2.8 m/s). That is the second-fastest time of Kallur's career, trailing only the 12.81w she ran at the Drake Relays on April 28. Kallur, who won the 2000 Junior World Championship in the 100m hurdles, had the fastest qualifying time among the three preliminary heats today.
"It was a good race today, I was more relaxed and my start was better than it has been lately," Kallur said. "I'm happy to move on and look forward to running tomorrow."
Sophomore Perdita Felicien, who entered the NCAA meet ranked #1 in the NCAA and #4 in the world, also won her heat in a time of 12.93 seconds. Felicien's time was the second-fastest qualifying time for tomorrow's semifinals behind only her teammate Sanna Kallur.
"This was my first race in almost two weeks, and it was a little rougher than I expected," Felicien said. "But history shows that I usually get faster as the rounds go on, so hopefully I worked out the kinks today."
Placing second behind Felicien in the final heat was Illini freshman Jenny Kallur. Jenny ran a new personal best time of 13.15 seconds, which registers as a legal time as the wind died down from the second heat to the third heat (wind for Felicien's and J. Kallur's heat: +1.9 m/s). That clocking for Jenny Kallur bettered her previous PR of 13.17 that she set last year at the junior world championships. Kallur's time also ranked as the eighth-fastest qualifying time for the semifinals.
"It feels really good to set a new PR today. I was coming close during the season, so I knew I had it in me," Jenny Kallur said. "The most important thing was to qualify, but it's always fun to run fast times along the way."
In total, Illinois has three hurdlers in the top eight, among the 16 total athletes that have qualified for tomorrow's semifinals. The semis will be run in two heats of eight hurdlers at 8:25 p.m. Central Time. The top four athletes in each semifinal heat then advance to Saturday's final.
"Our goal today was to advance all three hurdlers. We did that and we had some fast times out there which is a positive as well," women's Head Coach Gary Winckler said. "Sanna is technically very sound right now and she showed it out on the track. Jenny did an excellent job setting a new PR, and for Perdita it was pretty much business as usual. She rises to the level of competition, so I think she'll be more excited tomorrow and will be ready to go."
Illinois Results From Day Two Of NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Women's 100 Meter Hurdles Prelims
1. Susanna Kallur 12.83w Q
2. Perdita Felicien 12.93 Q
8. Jenny Kallur 13.15 Q
