March 4, 2011
Read John Denton's Knights Insider | Follow us on Twitter | Get social with the Knights on Facebook
By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - It's back to business as usual for the UCF indoor track & field team just a week after claiming its first Conference USA championship last weekend in Houston. The Knights will send eight members of the team to Notre Dame for Saturday's Alex Wilson Invitational which will serve as its Last Chance Meet.
UCF will be represented in the 4x400-meter relay by Champelle Brown, Afia Charles, Sandy Jean and Aurieyall Scott. The Knights set a new program record three weeks ago at the Tyson Invitational with a 3:36.03. That time is good for the 17th fastest in the nation this season. The NCAA automatic qualifying time is 3:34.00.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Karessa Farley and Mica Wimberly will look to earn a spot in next weekend's NCAA Championship Meet at Texas A&M. Wimberly set a new personal-best and provisional-qualifying time of 8.34 in the event at last weekend's C-USA Championships. Wimberly set the mark in the preliminaries before finishing third and earning all-conference honors in the finals. Farley's provisional time of 8.32 came in the finals of the conference meet, finishing second.
Junior Sheila Paul will run in both the 60 and the 200 meters on Saturday. Paul's top time in the 60 meters came at the Tyson Invitational with a personal best 7.38 in the semifinals. Her top 200 mark came in the finals of the C-USA Championships in a personal-best time of 23.55 to finish fourth.
Senior Lynne Layne will also run in the 60 and 200 meters alongside Paul. Layne finished third at the conference meet last weekend, but her best time of the season came in Friday's preliminary heat when she ran a 7.37 to qualify fifth. Her season-best time in the 200 is 24.58, coming at Arkansas.
UCF already has three athletes heading to Nationals next weekend. Freshmen Scott and Dominique Booker have qualified to run in both the 60 meters, while Scott has also earned a spot in the 200 meters. Junior Jackie Coward also posted an automatic qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles.
Coward's 8.06 in the finals of the Tyson Invitational earned the junior not only first place but also a new school record and personal best. Scott and Booker share the UCF school and freshman in the 60 meters with a time of 7.24. Scott also has an automatic-qualifying time and program record of 23.17 in the 200.