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Sonnisha Williams Tabbed as C-USA Track & Field Athlete of the Week

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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF sophomore Sonnisha Williams (Jacksonville, Fla.) was named the Conference USA Women's Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday. Williams claimed her first-career indoor honor after breaking the school record in the long jump and winning the high jump at Virginia Tech's Hokie Invitational Saturday.

Williams' mark of 20-9.0/6.32m in the long jump broke the previous school record of 19-11.50/6.09m set by Dionne Thomas on Feb. 1, 2008. The jump also made Williams a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March and was more than 10 inches farther than the event's second-place finisher.

Placing first and setting a new school record in one event was not enough for Williams on the second day of competition. The second-year Knight also won the high jump on Saturday to sweep the two events in which she entered. Williams posted a collegiate-best height of 5-6.50/1.69m to capture first, eclipsing her previous mark set last season of 5-2.25/1.58m.

"I'm very proud of Sonnisha because she did a great job of working hard this off-season," UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. "Sonnisha is improving her technical deficiencies on the track and on the runway.

"I look forward to Sonnisha continuing to run faster and jump farther as the season progresses," Smith Gilbert added. "Coach Paul Brown has done a phenomenal job of cleaning up Sonnisha's technique this season and preparing her to jump farther than she has in the past."

UCF returns to action this weekend at two separate meets. The Knights will participate at both the Penn State National Invitational as well as the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track Meet hosted by the University of Florida.