University of Illinois
Big Blue Classic
Seymour Sets Facility 100m Hurdles Record at EIU
April 1, 2017 | Women's Track & Field
Seymour and 4x100m relay win events
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Illinois 100m hurdler Pedrya Seymour broke the Eastern Illinois Big Blue Classic and O'Brien Field record in the 100m hurdles, as Seymour clocked 13.06 in the final to win her outdoor season opener. The time breaks the previous held record of 13.33 set in 2012 by Tamika Robinson. Seymour originally broke the record in prelims when she finished in 13.30. Also winning events on Saturday for the Illini was the 4x100m relay team who finished the sprint relay in 45.75.
Making her outdoor debut after earning First Team All-American honors last year and advancing to the 2016 Olympic Final, Seymour made her return to the 100m hurdles on Saturday. Seymour recorded the top time in prelims, 13.30, before dropping her time to 13.06 in the final. Also placing in the event was teammate Kortni Smyers-Jones who took runner-up with a time of 13.96.
"She had trained while we were on spring break, and had been working on things with Coach [Randy] Gillon," Garner said of Seymour. "It was nice to see her perform at that level. She's in the middle of a heavy workload. She executed Coach Gillon's race plan and did a very good job."
Illinois' other event title of the day came when the sprint relay team won their first event title of the season, as Briana Driver, Janile Rogers, Jayla Stewart and Kymbriona Taylor combined for a time of 45.75.
"We're working a couple of different relay groups right now," explained Garner. "Briana Driver led off the relay. We just missed the exchange, as it took the third pass to get the hand off. It was good that they stuck with it because they were in the right place. It ended up being really competitive race at the end, so we're getting some good, quality reps and that'll pay off going forward."
In the 100m dash prelims, Briana Driver clocked her first sub-12.00 performance, crossing the finish line in 11.97. Driver timed 12.17 in the final to take sixth place. Kymbriona Taylor placed runner-up in the final with a time of 12.13.
"It started during the indoor season for Briana," said Garner of the personal-best performance. "Her acceleration out of the blocks has been improving quite a bit. At the Big Ten indoor meet, she was in the lead for the first 15-20 meters of the race. In all the different things that we're doing, she just has to develop a feel for the improvements that we've made."
Also placing in the top three today was Sade Hargrove in the 400m with a time of 57.40 to finish third and Janile Rogers in the 200m with a time of 24.31.
Up next, the Illini will travel to Houston, Texas for the Houston Alumni Invite on April 8.
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