May 9, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Having already accomplished an impressive number of firsts this season, the UCF track and field team prepares to host its lone home meet of the season on Saturday when it plays host to the UCF Invitational at the UCF Track and Field Complex.
The one-day event commences at 9 a.m. with the field events, while running activities begin at 12 p.m. Meet results will be available at http://www.coacho.com/meet/info/fl_ucf/invite. All running events will be conducted as finals, while field events will be conducted as preliminaries with the top nine competitors advancing to the finals for three more attempts.
Admission to the meet is $4 for adults, $3 for students with a valid UCF student identification card and $2 for children younger than 12 years of age. A parking map is attached for spectators. Free parking is available in lots E6, E7 and E8 with parking also available in garage F for $5.
Participating collegiate teams in the meet include Bethune-Cookman, Jacksonville, Miami, North Florida, Nova Southeast, South Florida, Tampa, Warner Southern and Webber International. In addition, several Olympians will be competing in the meet as unattached participants, including Veronica Campbell-Brown, the 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 200 meter, and Angela Williams, the 2008 Gold Medalist in the 60 meter-dash at the World Indoor Championships.
"This should be a great meet," UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. "We are looking forward to facing some of the best competition in the state of Florida. With a week left until the conference meet, our goals are to set personal bests, break school records and have more regional-qualifying marks."
This is UCF's first meet in two weeks after breaking for final examinations last week. The Knights are coming off a strong showing at the Penn Relays in late April. At that prestigious event, UCF broke five school records, including school-best marks in the 4x100-meter relay, the 4x200-meter relay, the sprint medley relay, the distance medley relay and the triple jump.
Junior Dione Thomas (Jacksonville, Fla.) became the first track and field athlete in school history to earn a Conference USA Female Athlete of the Week award for her strong performance at the Penn Relays. She established a new UCF school-record and finished second in the college section of the women's triple jump, recording a personal-best and NCAA regional-qualifying leap of 42-4.25/12.91m. She also recorded a season-best performance in the long jump with a leap of 19-7.50/6.06m.Thomas also ran legs of UCF's school-record-setting 4x100m (46.28) and 4x200m (1:36.34) relay teams at the Penn Relays.
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