Feb. 25, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF track and field staff assistant Alexis Joyce ran a lifetime-best time of 7.21 in the 60-meter dash on Sunday at the AT&T USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston, and qualified for the upcoming 2008 IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships as a member of Team USA.
The final event of the Visa Championship Series, this past weekend's meet served as the qualifying event for Team USA's roster for the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships, to be held March 7-9, in Valencia, Spain. The top two finishers in the finals of each event qualified for the world championships, provided that they have met IAAF performance standards.
Joyce finished second in the finals of the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.203 to edge her nearest competitor by three-thousands of a second to qualify for the world championships. She beat out Nike's Carmelita Jeter, who was the 2007 World Outdoor Championships 100-meter bronze medalist, for the final qualifying spot.
Joyce, a native of Denver, ran collegiately at the University of South Carolina, where she was one of the Gamecocks' leading sprinters in the 60 and 100-meter dashes. In 2004 - her sophomore season - Joyce was part of a school-record-setting 4x100-meter relay squad that finished as the national runner-up at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. That finish earned Joyce and her 4x100 teammates All-America honors.
Joyce attended George Washington High School in Denver - the alma mater of UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. At George Washington, Joyce helped her team win two state championships and she was a three-time winner of the Colorado Sport Women's Award. She was a prep standout as both a sprinter and jumper.
Joyce joined the UCF Track and Field staff in September as a staff assistant to Smith Gilbert and, under her direction, has been able to return to competition form, running some of the best times of her life.
Complete results and a recap of Joyce's participation in the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships will be available at www.ucfathletics.com.
60-Meter Dash Finals (AT&T USA Indoor Track and Field Championships - Boston, Mass. - Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008)
1. Angela Williams - Nike - 7.11
2. Alexis Joyce - unattached - 7.21 [7.203]
3. Carmelita Jeter - Nike - 7.21 [7.206]
4. Mikele Barber - Nike - 7.22
5. Jessica Young - unattached - 7.25
6. Angela Daigle-Bowen - Cheetahs Int. - 7.29
7. Brianna Glenn -unattached - 7.33
8. Felicia Fant - unattached - 7.37
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