April 29, 2005
ORLANDO - Fresh from winning its sixth consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, the UCF women's track and field team hosts eight teams and a list of unattached athletes for the Golden Knight Twilight on Saturday. Field events begin at 3 p.m. with the track events following at 6:30 p.m.
Among the squads scheduled to compete against UCF are Atlantic Sun rivals Florida Atlantic and Jacksonville as well as Florida International, Albany State, USF, Tampa, Warner Southern and Florida Southern.
Among those headlining the list of 35 competitors for UCF is junior Tiffany Roebuck. The school record holder in the hammer throw (185 feet, 10 inches), shot put (47-2.5) and discus (153-8), she has qualified for the NCAA East Regional in all three events. Two weeks ago at the A-Sun Championship in Nashville, Tenn., she earned a trio of gold medals and took home the award as the outstanding performer.
En route to grabbing top honors in the Music City, senior captain Ann-Louise Larsen not only tied the school record in the high jump but also set a new championship and Vanderbilt Track record with a leap of 5-11.25. Currently ranked eighth in the nation, she is also slated to compete at the NCAA Regional.
Joining Larsen in the high jump lineup is sophomore LesSundra Ford. An NCAA finalist in the event last year, her current season-best of 5-7 is just short of the regional standard.
Sophomore and two-time conference champion Katie Fowke continues to lead a talented lineup of pole vaulters. Fowke tied her own year-old school record of 12-0 at the USF Invitational earlier in the month before defending her A-Sun title and helping set up a UCF sweep of the event in Nashville. Also competing are conference silver medalist Michelle Teuton and bronze winner Kelsey Bealert as well as 2004 bronze medalist Tracy Fischler.
In the horizontal jumps, junior Diana Chin competes in the long jump, where she broke the school record with an NCAA qualifying leap of 19-9.50 at USF. She also took home a gold medal at the A-Sun Championship. Junior Lynnsey Hicks is also looking to improve upon her jump of 18-6.25, which won a bronze at the conference meet. Freshman Vicky Chin has continued to improve in the triple jump this season and earned her own gold medal in the event with a mark of 38-2.75 two weeks ago.
The Chin sisters are also each slated to run a hurdle event. Diana tied her personal best recently with a time of 14.00 in the 100m hurdles, while Vicky posted a season best 62.25 in the 400m event.
Juniors Andrea Morrow and Astrid Claessens race head-to-head in the 3000m steeplechase. Morrow is the UCF record holder in the event after posting a personal best of 10:50.27 in 2004, while Claessens is second all-time in the school's record book at 11:44.42. Earlier this season she established a new program best time in the 1500m.
A trio of Golden Knights will also be well represented in the 800m event. Sophomore Karen Kozub owns the team's top time in the event this season at 2:13.62. Her classmate Christina Jones is third at 2:17.27, while freshman Kristen Zieminski is fourth at 2:20.77. Both times were posted at the A-Sun Championships.