May 26, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF track and field team will send a school-record nine athletes to the NCAA East Regionals this weekend. The two-day event, which begins this Friday in Greensboro, N.C., is being hosted by North Carolina A&T at Irwin Belk Track.
Head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert's squad heads to regionals on the heels of a strong performance last week in the Conference USA Outdoor Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The team finished in second place at the C-USA meet, the program's best performance since joining the league and only 20 points behind defending champion Rice.
Sophomore Lizzie Harris (Miami, Fla.) highlights the Knights competing after claiming the individual event championship and tying the school record in the high jump last week at the C-USA Championships. She will also compete in the 400-meter hurdles, an event she also won last week before being disqualified for a lead leg infraction. Freshman Aisha-Maree Frazier (Marietta, Ga.) will join Harris in the field for the 400-meter hurdles.
Freshman Sheila Paul (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.) is slated to participate in the most events for UCF, with the 100- and 200-meter dash and the 4x100-meter relay on her docket.
A trio of Knights will be in the field in the 100-meter hurdles, including junior Tiki James (Miami, Fla.), sophomore Micaela Wimberly (Miami, Fla.) and freshman Jackie Coward (Knoxville, Tenn.). James is the school record holder while Coward claimed second place in the event at the C-USA meet. All three will also join Paul on the team's 4x100-meter relay.
In the field events, three UCF athletes will compete in multiple events. Senior Dione Thomas, an NCAA Indoor All-American in the triple jump, will be in both the triple jump and the long jump at regionals.
Juniors LaKendra Thames (Winter Garden, Fla.) and Kelsey Poljansek (Milton, Kan.) will be in the field for both the shot put and discus events. Thames is the school record holder in the shot put and Poljansek has the school record in the discus.
The first event including a UCF athlete will be Friday at 1 p.m. with Thomas competing in the long jump. The preliminaries in the running events will take place on Friday with finals being held Saturday from 4 p.m. until 9:40 p.m.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to www.UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit www.UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.