Feb. 25, 2007
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
For her exceptional performance during the 2007 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships, Illinois State track athlete junior Devon Williams earned both the Most Outstanding Female Athlete and Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete as voted on by the league's head coaches and officials. It marked the first time that an Illinois State athlete has been named the most outstanding athlete since the 2000-01 campaign and the first time in history that a Redbird has accumulated the most outstanding track athlete honors.
Williams captured two individual titles at the Valley meet, held at the SIU Recreation Center in Carbondale, Ill. The Oswego, Ill., native tied her personal and Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship record in the 60-meter dash, finishing in first place with a time of 7.43 seconds during the final day. Williams' time in the 60-meter dash not only provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, but also tied the school mark that she set at the 2006 Valley indoor championships.
Williams grabbed her fifth career conference title in the 200-meter dash. Williams' time of 24.33 seconds was a personal-best result, as well as the second-fastest mark in Redbird history.
She also was a member of the 4x400-meter relay team and the women's distance medley relay team, which finished in second place. Williams teamed with Betsy McDonald, Kim Smudde and Suzy Turner to post a season-best time of 11:56.73.
Head coach Elvis Forde was ecstatic when thinking about Williams' performance throughout the weekend.
"The spotlight was on Devon the entire day," said Forde. "She had a great weekend, winning two individual championships and being a part of a second-place distance medley relay team. After all of that, she was able to come back and run as a member of the 4x400-meter relay team. I think that 60-meter dash championship was special because she was able to tie the conference championship record as well as tying her own personal-best.
"She was able to do all this on a track that is hard to run on, because it is so tight," added Forde. "I think her effort was tremendous. She is in a league by herself in our conference and I think that if she stays healthy, some special things are going to happen for Devon. We can't ask for anything more from her because she is such a humble person and does her daily tasks with such class. I can't be anything but happy for her."
Backed by the performance from Williams, the Redbird women finished the Valley meet in fourth place, with a total of 69 points.
