Jan. 29, 2011
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
COLLEGE STATION, Pa. (UCFAthletics.com) - Aurieyall Scott of the UCF women's track & field team broke her own school and freshman record in the 200 meters en route to a first-place finish Saturday at the Penn State National Invitational. Scott's 23.17 finish was an NCAA automatic qualifying time and a new personal record for the first-year Knight.
Scott's previous record of 23.35, set two weeks ago in Kentucky, was actually bested by fellow freshman Dominique Booker in the prior heat. Booker ran a personal record of 23.26 to set the new school mark that would stand for just a short while.
With both Scott and Booker racing in the invitational section, the two UCF sprinters were up against the top 200-meter runners on Saturday. Scott bested her teammate's newly-established record and the rest of the field with an automatic-qualifying time that earned her the win. Booker finished third overall, more than a fifth of a second faster than fourth-place Stormy Kendrick from Clemson.
Winning the fastest unseeded heat and finishing third overall was the UCF 4x400-meter relay team. The Knights' time of 3:41.53 was the fastest of 25 teams in the unseeded heats and was third overall ahead of teams from Clemson, Georgetown and Virginia Tech in the invitational heats. Carrying the baton for the Knights were freshmen Scott, Afia Charles, Sandy Jean and senior Champelle Brown.
"It was a good weekend with a lot of great races," said head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. "We had a lot of personal records and some school records as well, which I am very pleased about.
"It will be good to go home and have an extra week off coming up to rest and begin preparing and training for the Tyson Invitational in two weeks," Smith Gilbert added.
Running in the unseeded 200 meters were senior Sheila Paul and freshman Tyler Smith. Paul finished fourth, winning her heat in 24.33. That time was good for 11th overall between the unseeded and invitational divisions. Smith's time of 24.41 was a new personal record and was the sixth-fastest unseeded time on Saturday.
Also running in the unseeded 400 meters on Saturday for the Knights were Brown and Charles. Brown won her heat and finished fourth in the unseeded division in 56.19, good for 12th overall. Charles was second to Brown in the same heat and 10th in the unseeded division in 56.63.
UCF freshmen throwers Destinee Romain and Satrina Oliveira competed in the shot put at the Ashenfelter Indoor Track. Romain's throw of 40-0.0/12.19m was good for 21st.
The Knights will return to action tomorrow with several members of the team competing at the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Meet at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville.