March 9, 2012
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By Jenna Marina
UCFAthletics.com
NAMPA, Idaho (UCFAthletics.com) - Freshman Octavious Freeman and junior Sonnisha Williams claimed All-America distinction Friday evening at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Jacksons Indoor Track.
Freeman emerged as a USTFCCCA First Team All-American in the 200 Meters with a fourth-place time of 23.18 - an indoor personal best that fell .02 short of the school record. Freeman scored five points after she recorded the same time in the preliminaries to win her heat and clinch the third-fastest overall qualifying time.
Even though she has yet to compete in the 60-Meter finals, the Lake Wales, Fla., native has already scored the most points by a UCF freshman in history at the Indoor Championships.
Williams took Second Team All-America honors in the long jump with a leap of 6.19m/20-3.75 for ninth place. Friday's performance marked the second-straight year that Williams claimed Indoor All-American laurels.
"Octavious did a marvelous job of having consistent performances today. We haven't highlighted the 200 Meters in practice as much, so it was nice to see her be able to run fast, and fourth place as a freshman is nothing to sneeze at," UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. "Sonnisha had a good ending to the season. It was a little disappointing that she wasn't able to score - she's made a lot of technical adjustments but they just didn't all come together today. We look for her to have a spectacular outdoor season."
Freeman, sophomore Aurieyall Scott and senior Jackie Coward all advanced to Saturday's finals in their respective events.
Scott set a new personal best in the 60 Meters with a time of 7.18 in the preliminaries to break the school record. She ran the second-fastest time overall and the fastest time by a Knight this season. Freeman will join Scott in the finals Saturday after winning her heat and clocking the third-fastest time overall of 7.23. UCF is the only program to advance two competitors to the finals.
Coward topped her personal best and school record in the 60 Hurdles with the fourth-fastest qualifying time (8.02) in the preliminaries. She came in second in her heat to qualify for the finals on Saturday when she will look to improve upon her bronze medal performance from last year.
"Jackie ran a great race. She had a powerful start and strong finish, and we're looking forward to seeing her run fast tomorrow," Smith Gilbert said. "It was nice to see Aurieyall out on the track and back to her old form. We're having a good time here in Boise and really learning a lot to get ready for outdoors."
The Knights return to the track Saturday beginning with the 60 Hurdles, which is scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. eastern. Live stats are available via UCFAthletics.com, and ESPN3.com, NCAA.com and broncosports.com will provide complete live coverage of the meet.