Jan. 12, 2013
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By Jenna Marina
UCFAthletics.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. (UCFAthletics.com) - The No. 11 UCF track and field team concluded competition at the Kentucky Invitational Saturday with eight marks that rank among the NCAA's top 10 at time of publication and a new freshman record.
Anne-Marie Blaney rewrote UCF's school and six-year-old freshman record for the 3,000 meters, shedding 22 seconds off the mark when she crossed the finish line in fifth place at 9:53.31. Sophomore Shelby Blaes topped her personal best in the event with a time of 10:51.89.
Senior Lutisha Bowen dominated in the 60 hurdles, running away with the fastest preliminaries time of 8.27 for the fifth-best time in the NCAA so far. She then cruised to a first-place finish in the finals with a time of 8.36. Both times bested her previous personal record of 8.61.
The Knights shined in the 60 meters, posting three performances that rank among the top five in the NCAA and claiming six of the top-eight finishes in the preliminaries. Octavious Freeman led the way, running 7.20 in the preliminaries for the second-fastest time in the NCAA. Aurieyall Scott crossed the finish line behind her in 7.23 (third in NCAA) and Dominique Booker clocked 7.34 (fifth in NCAA). Bowen topped her personal best, running 7.54 for the sixth-fastest qualifying time.
Freeman won the finals in 7.24, Booker came in second at 7.36 and sophomore Christal Peterson just missed her personal best by one-hundredth of a second at 7.45 for fifth place.
The sprinters did not disappoint in the 200 meters as Scott, Freeman and Booker swept the top three spots of the meet with performances that rank among the NCAA's top 10. Scott won the finals with the third-fastest time in the nation (23.47), Freeman followed in second at 23.79 (No. 7) and Booker rounded out the trio in third with a time of 23.96 (No. 10).
Peterson topped her personal record with a time of 24.27 for fourth place.
In the 400 meters, junior Afia Charles ran the second-best indoor performance of her career with a second-place showing of 54.98 and the 10th-best time in the NCAA this year.
UCF's 4x400 relay of Charles, Peterson, Sonnisha Williams and Scott ran away with the fastest time of the day, 3:43.11, which sits at 11th in the country.
"I think the effort level was better than it ever has been, and as the competition gets tougher every week, we should be able to compete," UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. "I think we had solid races this weekend. As I've been saying, we're pretty stable and we're pretty consistent, so we should see a lot of marks drop in the coming weeks."
UCF has a busy week lined up with Thursday's Gator Invitational in Gainesville before Saturday's Auburn Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.
Stay up-to-date on all the latest track and field news by visiting UCFAthletics.com and following the team on Twitter (@UCF_Track) and Facebook.