2009 DRAKE RELAYS RELEASE #13
APRIL 10, 2009

DES MOINES, IOWA ? Tiffany Williams, who was ranked No. 5 in the world last year, will be out to break a 25-year-old record when she makes her Drake Relays debut competing in the women's invitational 400 meter hurdles which will be run at 3 p.m. during the Saturday, April 25, session.

Former Iowa State standout Nawal El Moutawakel set the existing Drake Relays record of 55.37 seconds in 1984 en route to eventually winning the gold medal in the event at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Williams, 26, won the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in 54.03 and finished eighth in the 2008 Olympics in 54.99.

She ran the second fastest time in the 400 hurdles in the world last year at 53.54 set at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Two years after giving birth to a daughter, Williams put her name atop the 2007 women's 400 hurdles world list at the  U.S.Outdoor Championships, leading the race from early on and winning in a personal-best time of 53.28.

Williams was ranked No. 2 in the world in 2006.

The Drake Relays women's invitational 400 hurdles field also includes three other athletes who were ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. last year:  Christine Spence, who was ranked No. 4; Latosha Wallace, No. 5; and Dominique Darden, No. 9.

Spence was fifth in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, while Wallace placed sixth in a personal best of 55.85.

Spence has a personal best of 54.21 set in Conseil, France, last year.

Darden won the 400 at the recent 2009 U.S. Indoor Championships and then won the 400 hurdles at the Florida Relays, She was clocked in a personal best of 54.88 in London, England, last year.