Jan. 26, 2008
Complete Results in PDF Format
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF track and field team set three school records and numerous personal bests to highlight a successful day by the Knights on Saturday at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic. The one-day event was hosted by the University of Florida at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in honor of the late Tom Jones, the Gators' longtime women's track and field coach.
Each of the three school records that were notched on Saturday were recorded by freshmen. Micaela Wimberly (Miami, Fla.), who had only been training for two weeks after joining the squad in January, broke the school's indoor record in the 55-meter hurdle finals and also set the freshman school record in the event with a time of 8.15. Senior Victoria Chin (Orlando, Fla.) tied the school record in the 55-meter hurdles, finishing in 8.16 in the preliminaries, before Wimberly beat her time by a hundreth of a second in the event's finals.
Fellow rookie Lizzie Harris (Miami, Fla.), who set four school records in the 200 and 400-meter dashes two weeks ago at the Virginia Tech Invitational, set the freshman indoor record in the high jump with a leap of 5-8.75. That mark also tied the school record in the event. That leap has been accomplished three previous times in the school history, with LesSundra Ford, last accomplishing the feat during the 2005 indoor campaign.
"We had some pretty good performances today," UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. "I was pleased that we set three school records and a lot of our athletes had PRs in their events. As well as we did, we still lack the confidence that is needed to score in the top three at the conference meet. We have been working on building confidence as a team and have also been working on team unity. We want our athletes to stand by one another and, when one of their teammates is down, we want them to help build up that confidence that is necessary to be successful."
Wimberly and Chin each set personal records in the 55-meter hurdles, joining teammate Sheree Carter (Tallahassee, Fla.), who also notched a PR with a time of 8.27 in the event's preliminaries.
Sophomore Feyisara Adaramola (Bronx, N.Y.) recorded a season-best time of 7.10 in the finals of the 55-meter dash.
A pair of distance runners notched PRs in the 3,000-meter run as junior Jamie Rzepecki (East Aurora, N.Y.) bested her previous personal-best time by seven seconds, finishing in 10:19.62, and sophomore Erica Weitz (Morganville, N.J.) topped her previous best by nine seconds with a time of 10:53.23.
UCF's distance medley relay squad, comprised of Kelly McNeill (Coral Springs, Fla.), Natalie Braddock (Callahan, Fla.), Stephanie Knapp (Englewood, Fla.), and Rzepecki, recorded its best time of the year, finishing the relay in 12:39.98.
Senior thrower Virginia Traynor (Miami, Fla.) posted her best mark of the season in the shot put with a toss of 41-7, improving her throw by nearly two feet from her last competition at the Virginia Tech Invitational.
UCF returns to action Saturday, Feb. 2, when it travels to Lincoln, Neb., to compete in the two-day Frank Sevigne Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska.
"Next week, we should be coming into much better form at Nebraska," Smith Gilbert said. "It always takes a couple of meets to get things going and that will be our third meet of the season. They have a banked track, so we should see some pretty fast times. We look forward to seeing some great performances by our runners and some great marks in the field events."
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Tom Jones Memorial Classic (Stephen C. O'Connell Center - Gainesville, Fla.)
Results - Saturday, January 26, 2008 - Event - (NCAA Qualifying Marks ) - Time
55-Meter Dash Preliminaries (Auto: 6.74; Prov: 6.92)
18. Feyisara Adaramola - 7.14 p q
55-Meter Dash Finals (Auto: 6.74; Prov: 6.92)
10. Feyisara Adaramola - 7.10
800-Meter Run (Auto: 2:05.00; Prov: 2:09.00)
24. Stephanie Knapp - 2:26.60
Mile Run (Auto: 4:40.00; Prov: 4:48.00)
15. Kristen Zieminski - 5:16.26
3,000-Meter Run (Auto: 9:15.00; Prov: 9:34.00)
19. Jamie Rzepecki - 10:19.62
26. Kelly McNeill - 10:40.93
31. Erica Weitz - 10:53.23
34. Kelly Shannon - 10:57.66
55-Meter Hurdle Preliminaries (Auto: 7.57; Prov: 7.86)
15. Victoria Chin - 8.16 p q
18. Micaela Wimberly - 8.22 p q
21. Sheree Carter - 8.27 p
46. Natalie Braddock - 9.35 p
55-Meter Hurdle Finals (Auto: 7.57; Prov: 7.86)
14. Micaela Wimberly - 8.15
15. Victoria Chin - 8.18
High Jump (Auto: 1.85; Prov: 1.78)
3. Lizzie Harris - 5-8.75/1.75 m
11. Katorie Stinney - 5-5/1.65 m
12. Sheree Carter - 5-3/1.60 m
Long Jump (Auto: 6.35; Prov: 6.10)
14. Dione Thomas - 18-8/5.69m
17. Sheree Carter - 18-4.25/5.59m
Weight Throw (Auto: 21:00; Prov: 18.75)
16. Virginia Traynor - 45-5.75/13.86m
Shot Put (Auto: 16.90; Prov: 15.20)
14. Virginia Traynor - 41-7/12.67m
Distance Medley Relay (Auto: 11.09; Prov: 11:30)
5. UCF `A' - 12:39.98
--Kelly McNeill, Natalie Braddock,Stephanie Knapp, Jamie Rzepecki
4x400-Meter Relay (Auto: 3:34.20; Prov: 3:41.20)
19. UCF `A' - 4:03.14
--Victoria Chin, Feyisara Adaramola, Lizzie Harris, Natalie Braddock
& - NCAA Provisional Qualifier
^ - NCAA Automatic Qualifier
p - Time came in preliminary event
q - Qualified for finals of event