March 28, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. - The UCF women's track and field team continues its outdoor season when the Knights compete at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee, Fla. from Thursday, March 29 through Saturday, March 31. Among the teams slated to participate in the meet are host Florida State, USF, Florida, Florida A&M and North Dakota.
Junior transfer Tia Harewood (Wyandach, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills HS) and sophomore Sheree Carter, a native of Tallahassee who graduated from Godby High School, take advantage of their first opportunity to compete in the heptathlon. Ranked third on UCF's all-time list after earning a personal-best 4,500 points in the heptathlon last season, Carter earned all-conference honors when she finished third in the pentathlon at the 2007 Conference USA Indoor Championship.
Harewood, meanwhile, was a multi-event athlete at Norfolk State posting 3,808 points at the MEAC Outdoor Championships last season before transferring to UCF. Last weekend at the Disney Invitational, she qualified for the finals of 100-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.62.
The Knights are well-represented in the 5,000m on Friday night. Freshman Jenny Clausen (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial HS) broke her own UCF rookie record in the event at Disney, posting a time of 17:22.74 to take first place. She is joined by junior Elizabeth Miller (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek HS) and redshirt freshman Jamie Rzepecki (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora HS), who have raced the 3,000m steeplechase and 3,000m run in earlier meets.
Competing in her second 400m hurdle event of the outdoor season, junior Victoria Chin (Orlando, Fla./Oak Ridge HS) looks to improve upon her time of 1:03.83 from the Disney meet.
In the throws, UCF boasts a trio of already well-decorated athletes. Junior Virginia Traynor (Miami, Fla./Miami Westminster HS) has posted personal bests in all three events this season, winning the shot put at the UCF Invitational. Meanwhile, freshmen LaKendra Thames (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange HS) Jessica Francis (Orlando, Fla./Boone HS) have made an immediate impact. Thames broke the school's freshman record in the shot put at 45-7.75 and also owns the team's season-best mark in the discus at 139-1. Francis placed third in the discus at the Disney Invitational.
Sophomores Dione Thomas (Jacksonville, Fla./Raines HS) and Ricki Sullivan (Santa Cruz, Calif./Harbor HS) go head-to-head in the horizontal jumps. Thomas has a team-best 18-11.25 in the long jump, while Sullivan is tops in the triple jump at 38-6.75.
Five members of the men's cross country team are entered in the 5,000m as part of their non-traditional spring season. Senior Ryan White (Boynton Beach, Fla./Santaluces HS) won the event at the USF Invitational, while junior captain Paul Nielsen (Oviedo HS) was second at Disney.
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