March 5, 2005
ORLANDO - The UCF women's track and field team opened its outdoor season at the UCF Invitational on Saturday with some impressive individual performances, highlighted by an NCAA Regional qualifying mark by senior captain Ann-Louise Larsen.
Larsen, a three-time all-conference honoree who has qualified for two previous NCAA Regionals, was making her second appearance in three days in the high jump. Despite the disappointment of narrowly missing the standard for the NCAA Indoor Championship on Thursday, she bounced back with a leap of 1.75 meters (5-feet, 8.75 inches) to finish first.
"It felt really good," said Larsen after the competition. "It's really difficult to jump in two competitions so close together, so I didn't know how I would do. I just didn't want to dwell on the past."
Sophomore and UCF record holder LesSundra Ford finished second in the event with a mark of 1.70m (5-7).
Junior Diana Chin just missed the regional mark of by three centimeters in the long jump with a winning mark of 5.92m (19-5.25) then took top honors in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.33. Her younger sister freshman Vicky Chin took third in the 100m hurdles at 14.67 before grabbing first place in the 400m hurdles at 1:03.06.
In the throws, juniors Tiffany Roebuck and Rian Thomas finished first and second respectively in the hammer. Roebuck, who already qualified for the NCAA Regional two weeks ago, had a mark of 53.52m (175-7), while Thomas registered a 47.40m (155-6). Roebuck also finished third in the discus (42.70m/140-1) and fourth in the shot put (13.47m/44-2.50). Freshman Sade Kusimo performed well in her collegiate debut with a second place showing in the discus at 42.83m (140-6).
Junior Michelle Olandese finished second in the javelin at 35.56m (116-8).
Returning to the track, sophomore and reigning Atlantic Sun Champion Karen Kozub took second in the 800m run at 2:17.31, while junior Astrid Claessens took third in the 1500m at 4:47.91. Junior Andrea Morrow was third in the 3000m and second in the 2000m steeplechase.
Rounding out the top performances was sophomore and UCF record holder Katie Fowke, who finished second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.47m (11-4.50).
"Overall, I was very pleased with our performance," said head coach Marcia Mansur-Wentworth.
Next up, the Golden Knights compete in the Disney Relays from March 11-12.