June 3, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF track and field staff assistant Alexis Joyce has qualified for the 2008 United States Olympic Team Trials in the 100-meter dash. The trials take place June 27-July 6 at historic Haywood Field in Eugene, Ore.
Joyce, who qualified under the A standard in a time of 11.09 (+1.1) at the 2008 NTC Classic in Clermont, Fla., will first compete in the quarterfinals of the 100-meter dash at 10:40 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 27.
Those athletes who qualify under the A standard (11.13) automatically qualify for the Olympic Team Trials, while those who qualify under the B standard (11.35) will be included in the event only if additional competitors are needed to make the event competitive.
Joyce, who has been training under the direction of UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert, participated in the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships as a member of Team USA this past March.
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 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 competition form and is running some of the best times of her life.
Smith Gilbert also trains former Tulane athlete and the 2008 Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Female Athlete of the Year Gloria Asumnu, who qualified for the 100-meter dash in the same meet in a time of 11.03 (+1.1).
Asumnu is coming off an impressive senior indoor campaign in which she was named an All-American in the 60-meter dash, won three C-USA championships and finished seventh in the finals of the 60-meter dash and finished seventh in the finals of the 60-meter dash at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships.
For all of the most updated information on the 2008 Olympic Trials, please log on to www.eugene08.com.
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