Perdita Felicien Wins 100 Meter Hurdle National Championship
June 1, 2002 | Women's Track & Field
June 1, 2002
BATON ROUGE, La. - It was a great ending to a historic season for 100m-hurdle standout Perdita Felicien. During the indoor season, the junior won the 60m hurdle national championship with an NCAA record time of 7.90 seconds. Tonight, Felicien claimed the 100m hurdle national crown outdoors with a time of 12.91 seconds becoming the first Illinois women's track and field athlete to win a nation championship since 1996 when Tonya Williams won the 400m hurdles. Teammate Susanna Kallur also ran a great race finishing third in the event to help the Illini tie for 10th at the meet.
"Tonight was perfect in that I set out to win an outdoor national title before the start of the season and I was able to do it," Felicien said. "I really wanted to break the NCAA record in the race, but now I have something to shoot for next year. I am really excited."
Felicien's victory was a come-from-behind effort as a slow start out of the blocks put the former Olympian in an early hole. Despite the slow start, Felicien quickly made up ground on the rest of the field and by the eighth hurdle, she was in the lead and on her way to the victory.
"Gary (Winckler) told me before the race that I didn't need to try to win out of the blocks," Felicien said. I need to stay relaxed and win at the end. It was tough to stay calm when I saw a couple of people in front of me, but I kept my composure and when I crossed the line I was so excited."
Sophomore Susanna Kallur also ran an outstanding race finishing third for the Illini in a time of 13.20 seconds. It's the second time in as many seasons she has earned All-America accolades in the 100m hurdles as she finished fourth in the event last season. Earlier this season, Kallur finished third at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in the equivalent event, the 60m hurdles.
"I'm very happy right now," Kallur said. "It feels great to be an All-American and I am happy for our team. We worked extremely hard this season and we did some great things. This is a great way to cap the season."
Overall, the Illini finished the national championships tied for 10th place with 19 points and earn their highest finish at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships since 1996, when the team finished fourth. It is also the fifth top-10 placing in school history. South Carolina won the national title.
"I am very happy for our team and for both Perdita and Susanna tonight," head coach Gary Winckler said. "I thought they were both prepared and that they both ran a smart race. You have to be very focused when you run the hurdles race and I thought they did that. If you lose you concentration at all, those hurdles can come up on you in a hurry and you can be in trouble. That happened to Perdita at the Big Ten meet and we saw that happen tonight."
###GO ILLINI###
