ORLANDO - Five Knights are set to represent UCF at the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships, held from July 6-9 at Heyward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The annual event for years has both fostered and welcomed back Olympic and World Champions as the best athletes in the country over the past season embark on the legendary complex. In years coinciding with the Olympics and World Championships such as 2023, the USA Outdoor Championships serve as a way of selecting the best athletes for those competitions.
In previous editions, UCF has sent more than 10 athletes to the event. Though to date, 2023 will serve as a historic precedent for a new era in the Big 12, as UCF will have five athletes competing for the first time in its program’s history.
Rayniah Jones will be the only returning Knights in the event, having previously competed at the 2021 edition that served as trials for the Tokyo Olympics later that year. The recent graduate’s 2023 season was yet another display of her prowess both on and off the track, as she became the program's fourth Order of Pegasus recipient, the highest honor a student at the University of Central Florida can receive. Jones broker her program record in the 100m Hurdles at the East Coast Relays in April with her 12.63 performance. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, she garnered her sixth and seventh career All-America honors as she was named Second Team in the 100m Hurdles and racked up an honorable mention in the 100m Dash.
Joining her in the 100m Hurdles is Kaylor Harris, one of four Knights to be making their first appearance at the USA Outdoor Championships. Her final collegiate season was the Texas native's best, with new personal records in both the hurdles and 100m Dash. Harris qualified for her first NCAA Outdoor Championships with a career-best 13.02 performance at the NCAA East Preliminary in Jacksonville, Florida in May. In Austin, she then garnered her first All-America honor in her career, as she was an honorable mention in the 100m Hurdles.
Two Knights will compete in the Xfinity 400m Dash as Latasha Smith and Kiah Williams will be the fourth duo in UCF history to compete in the same event at the USA Outdoor Championships. Smith had a breakout season in both the 400m (51.21) and 200m (22.09) dash as she set the program record in both events. The same goes for Williams who qualified for her first NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400m dash, garnering an All-America Honorable Mention.
Asherah Collins rounds out the Knights squad as the recent Second Team All-American had a breakout season in the triple jump. The first of two program records were paired with a gold medal at the AAC Outdoor Championships. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships last month, Collins jumped an incredible 13.48m (44-2.75) in her third career appearance.
Smith, Williams and Collins will all be the first Knights to compete at the USA Outdoor Championships.
The event will be streamed all four days on USTFA+ and CNBC. The live results link can be found here.
SCHEDULE
Thursday, July 6
- 400m Dash (First Round) / 7:56 pm EST
Kiah Williams (Heat 1 / Lane 8)
Latasha Smith (Heat 3 / Lane 8)
*Top 3 + Next 4 advance to the Semi-Finals*
- Triple Jump (Final) / 9 pm EST
Asherah Collins (Flight 1 / Lane 11)
*Top 8 advance to the Finals*
Friday, July 7
- 100m Hurdles (First Round) / 8:53 pm EST
Kaylor Harris (Heat 2 / Lane 2)
Rayniah Jones (Heat 3 / Lane 8)
*Top 3 + Next 4 advance to the Semi-Finals
- 400m Dash (Semi-Finals) / 11:29 pm EST
*Top 3 + Next 2 advance to the Finals*
Saturday, July 8
- 100m Hurdles (Semi-Finals) / 9:02 pm EST
*Top 3 + Next 2 advance to the Finals*
- 400m Dash (Final) / 9:19 pm EST
- 100m Hurdles (Final) / 10:55 pm EST