University of Houston senior Seun Adigun is having the best week of her life. The Cougars elite hurdler had a record-setting weekend in the 60-meter hurdles,finishing with a top five NCAA time and a top 20 worldwide time to lead Houston at the New Balance Invitational in New York City.
Adigun set a personal best time of 8.09 seconds in the finals, eclipsing her time of 8.22 seconds in the preliminaries on Friday.
‘It really caught me by surprise,’ Adigun said. ‘All of a sudden I turn around and (find out) I ran an 8.09. It still hasn’t hit me yet.’
The time is the 14th fastest time on record this season and it secured Adigun a spot at Nationals in College Station, TX at the end of the season.
‘It’s very relieving to know that I don’t have to go to every meet from now on (and say), ‘OK, I need to run a fast time, I need to mawke it to Nationals,” Adigun said. ‘It feels really good to know I have my ticket to Nationals now.’
Adigun’s time set the school record, breaking Jenny Adams’ time of 8.1 seconds.
‘I’m really excited to be acknowledged alongside someone so great,’ said Adigun about Adams.
Adigun also took home Conference USA Women’s Track & Field Athlete of the Week for her accomplishments. The Chicago native now ranks atop Conference USA and stands fourth in the country.
‘I’m glad the conference recognizes that I worked hard and did do well,’ Adigun said.
This is the third career C-USA Athlete of the Week honor for Adigun and her first this year. The achievement marks three consecutive weeks in which a Cougar has garnered the honorthis season, following sophomores Chris Carter and Christie Jones.
Adigun also competed in the 60-meter dash, recording another personal-best of 7.51 seconds. Adigun’s teammate, sophomore standout Jones, beat Adigun in the race with a time of 7.45 seconds to finish 13th.
‘I am so proud of her,’ Adigun said. ‘Christie has got so much more left in her, too, so just what she has done and the accomplishments she’s gone through. I am very proud of her.’
Last weekend at the Houston Invitational, Jones set a NCAA provisional mark in the 60-meter dash with a personal-best time of 7.4 seconds. The mark is the fastest posted in Conference USA and a Top 15 time in the nation.
Cougars who also ran in the 60-meter dash included sophomore Kalyn Floyd, who had a time of 7.58 seconds and freshman Grecia Bolton who finished in 7.68 seconds.
Freshman standout Starla Garcia moved into the UH record books, posting the fifth fastest time in school history after finishing the 5,000-meter run in 17:58.54.
Next up for UH is the Texas A&M Invitational, which will be held in College Station on Friday and Saturday at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
‘There is still a whole other season out there,’ Adigun said.’ ‘I’m just ready to go out there and continue to work hard and see what happens.’
