May 4, 2011
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - This Thursday's UCF Twilight is the third and final home meet of the 2011 season for the UCF outdoor track & field team. The meet will also mark two other events set to take place that afternoon as the Knights will host Senior Day prior to the running events as well as a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the opening of the UCF Soccer and Track Stadium at 5:30 p.m.
Competing Thursday alongside the Black and Gold will be athletes from Jacksonville, North Florida, FAU, Embry-Riddle, Georgia Southern, Nova Southeastern, Warner and others. The event will feature both men's and women's teams.
The Twilight will begin at noon with the pole vault followed by the javelin, hammer throw, high jump and discus over the next two hours. Scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., the long jumpers will get their first look at the new jump pits installed as part of the upgrades of the facility set to be unveiled Thursday afternoon. The shot put and triple jump will follow leading up to Senior Day festivities at 3:30 p.m. Running events are set to start at 4 p.m.
Those being honored during Senior Day festivities are: Dan'Elle Bellamy, Champelle Brown, Lynne Layne, Mica Wimberly, Carley Dart and graduate assistant LaTonya Loche.
The Knights, who remained at No. 17 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) weekly rankings, are coming off a strong showing at the Penn Relays last week. Three relay teams broke school records at Franklin Field in Philadelphia as members of the Knights running in the shuttle hurdles, 4x400- and 4x800-meter relay teams eclipsed previous program marks in the annual nation-wide meet.
This week will have a different look for UCF as the team will use this meet as the final opportunity to fine tune any adjustments heading into the Conference USA Championship meet next week at Rice. Limited individual races last week at Penn were the result of a large field of athletes competing from across the nation. This week will allow almost all members of the team to get an opportunity to run in their final heats leading up to the conference meet.
The UCF Twilight is an all-afternoon event, but fans and members of the UCF community are encouraged to come out to the ribbon-cutting ceremony set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Director of Athletics Keith Tribble along with head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert and other esteemed guests will be on hand to help celebrate the opening of another UCF athletic facility. The celebration will take place at the new entranceway on the west side of the stadium.