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UCF Track & Field NCAA Regionals Meet Journal: Day 1

May 29, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF track and field team is competing in the NCAA East Regionals Friday and Saturday in Greensboro, N.C., on the campus of North Carolina A&T. Head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert's team sent a school-record nine athletes to the regionals, and the squad will have 15 total entries in the two-day event being held at Irwin Belk Track.

Friday's action will include UCF athletes competing in the finals in the long jump and discus as well as preliminaries in the 4x100-meter relay, 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash.

Check UCFAthletics.com throughout the day for live updates from Greensboro.

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.

12:50 p.m. - Senior Dione Thomas (Jacksonville, Fla.) is getting set for the finals of the long jump. Thomas is slated as the sixth athlete in flight two of three flights. Her top mark of the season came at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships, where she jumped 20-7.25/6.28m.

1:03 p.m. - In addition to live updates here on UCFAthletics.com, live results can also be found throughout the day on the official website of the NCAA East Regionals.

2:30 p.m. - Thomas concludes her three long jump attempts with a top mark of 19.9/6.02m to finish second in the second flight. The Jacksonville native will await the results of flight three to see if she is one of the nine finalists.

4:29 p.m. - The long jump and the 4x100-meter relay preliminaries are in the books for UCF. Thomas just missed advancing past the prelims in the long jump while the 4x100-meter relay squad ranked 16th in 45.91 seconds. Still scheduled to compete for the Knights Friday are Kelsey Poljansek (Milton, Kan.) and LaKendra Thames (Winter Garden, Fla.) in the discus as well as the prelims in the 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter hurdles.

6:06 p.m. - Junior Tiki James won heat three in the 100-meter hurdles to qualify for Saturday's final. James crossed the line in 13.39 seconds and will be seeded fifth in the final. Teammates Jackie Coward (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Mica Wimberly (Miami, Fla.) did not make the final.

8:28 p.m. - Nearing the end of day one, freshman Sheila Paul (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.) is the last UCF runner set to compete. She will be in heat four of the 200-meter dash, set to get underway at 8:40 p.m.

9:23 p.m. - UCF will have at least one athlete competing at nationals as Thames finished fourth in the recently completed discus. In the same event, Poljansek just missed an automatic spot in nationals by taking sixth. However, she is in a prime spot to qualify via the national descending order list.

9:38 p.m. - Day one of the NCAA East Regionals is in the books for UCF. The day was up and down for the Knights, highlighted by the performances of Thames and Poljansek in the discus and James advancing to Saturday's final in the 100-meter hurdles.