June 8, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Junior Kesley Poljansek (Milton, Kan.) has made quite an impact in her first season at UCF after transferring from Cowley County Community College. After receiving an at-large bid to compete in the discus at the NCAA Track & Field Outdoor Championships this week in Fayetteville, Ark., Poljansek has an opportunity to put an exclamation point on her successful season.
Poljansek will be one of two discus throwers and a school-record five UCF athletes competing at nationals. Fellow junior LaKendra Thames (Winter Garden, Fla.) will also be in the discus field. Qualifying for the discus finals gets underway on Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m.
In just her second meet at UCF, Poljansek broke the school records in both the shot put and the discus at the UCF Invitational. The junior eventually became the first UCF athlete to throw the discus over 170 feet on April 23 at the Iron Discus Classic, posting a mark of 170-2/51.86m that is currently the school record in the event. It was that mark that earned her a berth into the NCAA Championships. Poljansek placed in the top two in the discus in five events this season.
The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Arkansas, run from Wednesday until Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark. Poljansek and Thames will be joined at nationals by senior Dione Thomas (Jacksonville, Fla.) in the triple jump, junior Tiki James (Miami, Fla.) in the 100-meter hurdles and sophomore Lizzie Harris (Miami, Fla.) in the high jump.
Prior to this season, the program had just one representative at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, LesSundra Ford (high jump) in 2004.
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