Track and Field Breaks Decade-Old Program Record in 4x400m RelayTrack and Field Breaks Decade-Old Program Record in 4x400m Relay

Track and Field Breaks Decade-Old Program Record in 4x400m Relay

by Alex Clough

LUBBOCK, Texas - With previous performances that knocked on the door, the 4x400m relay squad finally made history to conclude the Stan Scott Invite on Saturday afternoon.

Led by multiple strong outings in a trio of events, the relay squad, consisting of Jazmen Newberry, Kiah Williams, Twaneise Johnson, and Deja Shaw-Huckaby, dominated the field to win the meet's final competition with an outstanding time of 3:33.81.

With four Knights embarking on the triple jump, Asherah Collins led the way with a second-place finish following her mark of 12.96m. Trailing the All-American were a pair of personal bests from Natalia Madison and Alexis Waller. 

The former shot up to eighth in program history with her 12.51m performance, landing in fifth place. Waller continues to set new highs, placing sixth with the school’s 10th-best mark all-time of 12.31m.

This was a great meet for us. We are right where we want to be heading into February. We showed a lot of improvement this weekend. We still have a lot of room to improve and we will keep working to make the adjustments. Once again we will take the next week to train and then in two weeks run our last meet before conference at the Tyson Invitational.

Head coach Dana Boone

In the first portion of 200m heats, sophomore Janiah Pulliam smashed her previous best with a 23.75 to lead heats 11 through 22. After a remarkable win in the 60m hurdles a day ago, setting a new record in the process, Adaobi Tabugbo tallied her second personal best of the weekend with her time of 24.07.

More than an hour later, the first 10 heats of the 200m resumed, highlighted by William’s personal-best 23.28 to win the event. Her fellow relay partner, Shaw-Huckaby, also set a career record with her impressive 23.97 to place 11th. Ese Awusa also clocked a strong best with a 24.27 in 23rd.

UCF’s distance squad will take over next weekend as assistant coach Bryan Harmon and the group make the short trip north to Gainesville, Florida, for the Celebration Pointe Classic on Friday.