April 30, 2015
Twilight Invite Gallery - Images by UCF Knights
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Dan Forcella
UCFKnights.com
Related
+ Results (pdf)
+ Results (html)
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) -- The UCF track and field team trained through its final home meet of the season, finishing second out of 16 scoring teams at the Twilight Invitational Thursday in Orlando.
Finals week at UCF, many Knights took the meet off to concentrate on their studies and continue to train for the American Athletic Conference Championships in two weeks, but that didn't stop the team from winning four events and finishing with 11 top-three performances.
The first event, starting at 9:30 a.m., the hammer throw was won by redshirt-junior Kalen Hambrick, who recorded a mark of 54.99m/180-05. Redshirt-freshman Tara Daniels also scored in the event, placing sixth with a throw of 46.72m/153-03.
Daniels also went on to take third place in the shot put with a season-best mark of 13.81m/45-03.75. Paige Byrnes added a third place finish in the pole vault, as her best on the day was 3.55m/11-07.75.
Head Coach Jeanette Bolden decided to change up the order of UCF's 4x100 meter relay team and it turned out to be a wise choice. The team of Kirsten Nieuwendam, Christal Peterson, J'Nea Bellamy and Briana Vaughn not only won the event, but also recorded a season-best time of 44.34 seconds. That is good for the seventh fastest time in the East Region.
Running unattached during her redshirt season, Anne-Marie Blaney won both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters on Thursday. Her time of 4:26.27 in the 1,500 was a personal best and would have broken the school record if she wasn't redshirting the outdoor season.
Peterson and Vaughn took first and second place in the 100 meter dash, respectively. Peterson set a personal record with a time of 11.60 seconds, while Vaughn clocked in at 11.80 seconds with no wind. Brittany Barber also ran a personal best in the event with a time of 12.16.
The Knights' success in the 800 meters continued Thursday as UCF took first, second, fourth and sixth place. Rosie Chamberlain won in 2:09.53, Amelia Williams was second in 2:09.81, Ne'Ausha Logan placed fourth in 2:10.64 and Caroline Pauls ran a season-best 2:11.73 for sixth.
Sandy Jean also ran a season-best on Thursday, placing second in the 400 meter hurdles in 58.64 seconds.
Peterson came back after winning the 100 meter dash to place second in the 200 meter dash. Her time of 23.82 seconds was another personal best for the redshirt-junior. Vaughn crossed the line in 24.19 seconds for seventh place, while Barber ran a personal best 25.06 in the event.
Blaney's time of 17:08.20 was good enough to top all runners in the 5,000 meters, but Amy Ankli was the Knights' top scorer in the event. She placed fifth in a personal best time of 18:05.34.
UCF next compete at the American Athletic Conference Championships in Storrs, Conn. The meet runs from May 14-17.