ORLANDO, Fla. – With one meet to go until the UCF track and field team travels to Tampa for the AAC Outdoor Championships, the squad remains 16th in the latest USTFCCCA National Ratings Index. It's the first week this season the Knights saw no movement in their ranking, a sign of the consistency the team has shown down the stretch.
This weekend at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational, the 4x100 relay squad of Daija Lampkin, Rayniah Jones, Beyonce Defreitas, and I'Asia Wilson ran the nation's fifth-fastest time this season with their 43.26 performance. The time is also the third best in program history as the Knights now have three relay squads ranked within the top-15 in the nation, joining the 4x400 relay (15th) and the shuttle hurdle relay (1st) squads.
The Knights also saw two massive performances in the 100-meter dash and triple jump as Janyah Jasper and Asherah Collins broke into the top-20 national ranking. Jasper's personal best of 11.28 is currently 19th in the nation, the highest placing of any AAC athlete in the event. Collins was the highest collegiate finisher in the triple jump this weekend with her new best mark of 13.15m, the 20th-best jump in the nation.
Knights in the Top 10
Rayniah Jones / 100-meter hurdles (12.75)
Latasha Smith / 400-meter dash (51.47)
Daija Lampkin, Rayniah Jones, Beyonce Defreitas, I'Asia Wilson / 4x100 relay (5th)
Kaylor Harris, Natalia Madison, Alicia Coleman, Rayniah Jones / Shuttle Hurdle Relay (1st)