ORLANDO – The UCF track and field team had yet another impressive day in the young season, with PRs galore and new top-10 marks, the Red Raider Open, and the first day of the Vanderbilt Invite was a great showing. Natalia Madison is now second place in the program's indoor history in the pentathlon with her 3,704 point-mark. She is joined by Kiah Williams who was on a tear in the 400-meter dash, breaking into the top three in program history with her time of 53.61.
The aforementioned Madison and Holly Cassels, who also set her new personal best with 3,460 points, got the day started off in Nashville, Tenn. The duo broke six individual PRs combined on way to two top-ten finishes, as both set PRs in the 60-meter hurdles and the 800-meter. Cassel's time is now eight in program history for the pentathlon.
Following the brilliant start, the attention shifted to the Red Raider Open at Texas Tech as the Knights got started with the two 60-meter events. Beyonce Defreitas set a new personal best in the 60m dash with her time of 7.50 while Kaylor Harris advanced to the 60-meter hurdles finals with the program's seventh-best time in school history of 8.29. Williams, now third in school history, also finished third in the 400-meter, followed by Latash Smith in fifth with a time of 54.19. Daija Lampkin and Defreitas went two-three in the 200-meter dash, with Defreitas (23.54) setting her second personal best of the day. The duo is now fifth and sixth in program history.
Back at Vanderbilt, Jasmine Scott-Kilgo set her new best with a 6.14-meter mark in the long jump, still third best in program history. The reigning AAC Track Athlete of the Week, Asherah Collins, also set a new best in the event with her jump of 5.97 meters. Riley and Paige Jaszczak continue to impress as their first indoor 5K event resulted in times of 18:03.78 and 18:04.08 which are now eighth and ninth in program history. Mariana Rodriguez capped the day off with the school second best time in the 1000-meter run with a time of 2:53.53, also a personal-best
The Knights set 14 personal records today. Check the links provided for the full results of today's two meets. The Black and Gold will go at it again tomorrow for day two of the Vanderbilt Invite.