The Knights claim 12 marks that rank among the region’s top 25. Freshman Octavious Freeman, sophomore Aurieyall Scott and senior Sheila Paul hold six of UCF’s region-best seven entries in the 100 and 200 meters and will be joined by sophomore Dominique Booker in the 200.

Freeman won gold in the 100 meters and bronze in the 200 meters at the Conference USA Championships as she heads into the preliminaries with the third-best time in both events. Scott also ranks among the region’s top 10 in both events after emerging as league champion in the 200 and runner-up in the 100. Paul took silver in the 200 to help UCF earn a clean sweep of the podium in the event at the championships.

Sophomore Afia Charles earned her spot for the second-consecutive year in the 400 meters. Freshman Ne’Ausha Logan secured her first appearance at the preliminaries with her personal-best and gold-medalist performance in the 800 meters at the Conference USA Championships.

All-conference selections Jackie Coward and Karessa Farley will represent the Black and Gold in the 100 hurdles while Aisha-Maree Frazier returns to the preliminaries in the 400 hurdles after missing last year’s competition. All three hurdlers earned all-conference distinction a week ago.

Junior Sonnisha Williams will lead UCF’s four entries in the long jump as she currently ranks third in the region in the event. She will be accompanied by all-conference honoree Jacquelyn Gilchrist, Tomika Story and Jen Clayton. Gilchrist and Story will also perform in the triple jump.

Freshman Precious Ogunleye becomes UCF’s first freshman since 2007 to represent the Knights in the throws by earning her spot in both the shot put and discus.

The top 24 finishers in each event will move on to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 6-9. For more information about the East Preliminaries, visit the meet central page via www.unfospreys.com.

The Knights claimed the title with 160 team points, besting C-USA Indoor Champion East Carolina by nearly 28 points.

Octavious Freeman was named the Freshman of the Meet, Aurieyall Scott won the High Point Scorer of the Meet for the second year in a row and head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert was awarded her third-consecutive Coach of the Year accolade.

Freeman set a meet record, school record, freshman record and personal best in the 100 meters with a blistering performance of 11.09 (+1.5) for first place. The time ranks second in the NCAA and 11th in the world this year. Scott finished in step behind her and also tied the previous meet record of 11.21 (+1.5), which ranks among the top 10 in the NCAA.

Senior Sheila Paul and sophomore Dominique Booker scored points in the 100 meters as well with fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively. Paul registered a season-best time of 11.40, which ranks among the NCAA’s top 25, and Booker clocked 11.59.

As a unit in the 4×100 relay, the group clinched UCF’s first gold medal of the day by churning out a time of 43.47, which fell just .05 shy of the squad’s Conference USA Championship meet record in 2011. The performance ranks among the top 15 in the NCAA this year.

The quartet also shined in the 200 meters as the Knights swept the podium. Scott reclaimed her gold medal in the event with a time of 23.13 (+0.8), which ranks among the top 15 in the NCAA. Paul and Freeman went neck and neck for silver and bronze as both clocked a time of 23.53. Rounding out the bunch, Booker scored points in seventh place with a time of 23.98.

Senior Tomika Story earned all-conference third team honors in the triple jump with a personal-best leap in all conditions of 12.74m/41-09.75 (+2.6). Competing in the event for the first time of her collegiate career, Scott also scored points in eighth place with a mark of 12.25m/40-02.25 (+2.0), which topped her heat.

Junior Sonnisha Williams recorded a personal-best 11.92m/39-01.25 (+1.7) to finish second in her heat behind Scott and 12th overall. Williams also hit a personal-record 1.73m/5-08 in the high jump to match her best showing in the event at the Outdoor Championships in fifth place.

A day removed from setting a personal best in the 800 meters, Ne’Ausha Logan led the finals from start to finish and again shaved nearly two seconds off her PR for the first gold medal of her career with a time of 2:07.25.

Two seniors medaled and recorded times among the NCAA’s top 25 in the 100 hurdles. Jackie Coward retained her title as the 100 hurdles champion by picking up her third gold medal of her career in the event with a time of 13.10 (+1.1), and Karessa Farley posted a season-best time of 13.34 (+1.1) for third place.

Coward also defended her gold medal in the 400 hurdles with a season-best time of 58.35, and fellow senior Aisha-Maree Frazier joined her on the podium with a third-place, season-best time of 59.46.

Satrina Oliveira set a personal best en route to winning her heat and finishing fourth in the discus with a mark of 46.80m/153-06. A day after earning all-conference honors in the shot put, Precious Ogunleye also scored points in the discus with a sixth-place finish of 45.10m/147-11.

Junior Erica Weiss tallied a point in the pole vault with a mark of 3.60m/11-09.75 for eighth place.

The 4×400 relay of Afia Charles, Christal Peterson, Erica Winston and Williams closed out the evening with a season-best time of 3:38.69 for fourth place. Earlier in the day, Charles scored points in the 400 meters with a fifth-place time of 54.03.

Complete coverage of the final day of competition will air on tape delay on Fox Sports Florida on Friday at 2 p.m. and on SportSouth on Sunday at 8 p.m. Up next, the Knights will travel to Jacksonville for the NCAA East Preliminary Round of the Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 24-26.

Champion Event(s)

Team Points

1. UCF 160
2. East Carolina 132.16
3. Southern Miss 81
4. Houston 74
5. Rice 60.50
6. SMU 60
7. UAB 58
8. Memphis 55
9. UTEP 54
10. Tulane 33.33
11. Marshall 28
12. Tulsa 23

Four Knights currently rank among the NCAA’s top 25 in their respective individual events, and two of UCF’s 4×100 Relay squads weigh in at No. 3 and No. 8, respectively, in the country.

UCF concluded its outdoor regular season this past weekend and the Knights are enjoying a week off from competition before they head to New Orleans on May 11-13 in pursuit of a third-straight C-USA outdoor championship.

Among the team’s national rankings, Octavious Freeman ranks first in the 200M and third in the 100M, Jackie Coward ranks ninth in the 100 hurdles, Sonnisha Williams ranks 18th in the long jump and Dominique Booker ranks 23rd in the 100M. UCF’s 4×100 relay teams rank third and eighth in the country.

Williams impressed in the high jump by tying for second place with a personal-best leap of 1.70m/5-07.

The throwers represented the Black and Gold well as freshman  earned her best finish of the season thus far in the Hammer with a third-place toss of 48.09m/157-09. She went on to record personal bests and fourth-place finishes in both the Shot Put and Discus. She nearly topped the UCF freshman shot put record with a mark of 14.12m/46-04.00 and bested her personal record in the discus by nearly 13 feet with a toss of 47.75m/156-08.

Not to be outdone by her teammate, sophomore  recorded a personal best in the Shot with a throw of 13.92m/45-08.00 for fifth place and recorded her best discus mark of the season (35.90m/117-09).

Seniors and  held their own in the long jump as the top two collegiate finishers in the event behind France’s Eloyse Lesueur and Great Britain’s Jade Johnson. Gilchrist posted a wind-aided 6.16m/20-02.50 (+3.0) with Story right behind her in fourth place with a mark of 6.07m/19-11.00 (+2.9), which is a personal best in all conditions.

Freshman  jumped out to a great start in the 3000 Steeple and never lost her momentum to claim the first win of her collegiate career with a personal-best time of 11:48.06.

In her first appearance in the 3000 Meters this season,  ran a personal-record 11:02.14.

The No. 12 UCF track and field team will split between the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa., and the Memphis Invitational in Memphis, Tenn., on April 27-28.

Jackie Coward shined in a neck-and-neck first flight of the 100 hurdles. Coward hurled herself across the finish line but was .01 shy of first place overall with her time of 13.05 (+1.9) to rank second in the country.

“This is the fastest 100-hurdle opening race Jackie has ever had since she has been at UCF,” UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “It was nice to see her run well. She had a very good day.”

Because the time frame for qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials spans from May 1, 2011 – June 17, 2012, Coward has already clinched her spot to compete at the trials with her personal-best 12.87 at last year’s USA Track and Field Championships. Her performance Saturday again meets the provisional standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials and was .05 short of an automatic-qualifying time. Baylor’s Tiffani McReynolds clinched the new UCF Track and Field Complex record with the nation’s top mark of 13.04.

Senior Jacquelyn Gilchrist also made her last appearance at the UCF Track and Field Complex memorable by besting her personal record in the triple jump twice. She recorded 12.53m/41-1.50 (+0.6) on her very first attempt and topped it on her next try, settling for 12.56m/41-02.50 (+1.5) to finish seventh overall and among the top 15 in the country.

“Jacquelyn had a good effort today. We are increasing her triple jumps week by week so she can maintain a good performance by the end of the season,” Smith Gilbert said.

In her first-collegiate-outdoor 200M race, freshman Octavious Freeman clocked a wind-aided personal-best 22.92 (+2.8) for second place only to Olympian Abi Oyepitan and ahead of U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist DeeDee Trotter for the fastest time in NCAA. Sophomore Dominique Booker zipped to a time of 23.84 (+2.8) to rank among the top 25 in the country and seventh place in the event.

Afia Charles and Amanda Leland both clocked a wind-aided personal bests in the 200M with times of 24.10 and 24.62 (+2.4), respectively.

Booker also recorded a personal-best 11.44 (+2.0) in the 100 meters for fourth place and the fifth-best time in the country to pace six Knights in the race. Leland also finished among the top 10 with a wind-aided personal-best 11.74 (+3.4).

The 4×100 relay squad of Aurieyall Scott, Booker, Freeman and Coward rocketed to a second-place finish of 43.58 – a time that ranked third in the country at time of publication. The Knights were narrowly edged by Clemson by .08 for first place and the new UCF Track and Field Complex record.

For the second-consecutive week, freshmen Cody Castillo and Teresa Huff improved their personal bests in the 1500 meters, shaving their times to 4:44.48 and 5:07.73, respectively.

Satrina Oliveria finished third in her flight of the discus with a mark of 42.75m/140-03 for 11th overall as the Knights’ sole competitor in the event. Meanwhile, sophomore Destinee Romain (13.23m/43-05.00) and freshman Precious Ogunleye (12.80m/42-00) both improved upon their marks from the season opener in the shot put.

Prior to the meet, the Knights took time to recognize the Class of 2012 – Coward, Gilchrist, Sheila Paul, Aisha-Maree Frazier, Tomika Story and Karessa Farley – which will always hold a special place in Smith Gilbert’s heart.

“I didn’t expect it to be emotional, but all of a sudden it just hit me,” Smith Gilbert said. “They are the first class that I brought in and saw all the way through. I think that’s why it’s more emotional. I recruited them my first year and they’ve been with me through the last four years. It’s sad to see them all go.”

The Knights will enjoy a week off from competition as they prepare for the Pepsi Florida Relays held April 6-7 in Gainesville, Fla.

New UCF Track and Field Complex Records

Discus

4×100 Relay

100 Hurdles

Shot Put

800 Meters

4×400 Relay

“Today was a good starting point for the season and we’re going to build off of this meet,” UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said.

UCF shined in the 100 Meters by recording the top-three finishes with times that all rank among the top 10 in the nation at time of publication. Sophomore Dominique Booker led the way with a time of 11.74 (0.9), followed by Amanda Leland’s personal-best 11.76 (1.8) and Sheila Paul rounded out the trio with a time of 11.81 (0.9).

The Knights also clinched three of the top five spots in the 200 Meters with marks that rank among the nation’s top 10. Sheila Paul emerged as UCF’s best finisher of eight competitors with a second-place time of 23.75 (-0.3). Junior Sonnisha Williams fell in step behind her at 23.89 (-0.3) while Booker also finished among the top five with a time of 24.12 (-0.3).

Leland recorded a personal best 24.74 (-0.1) in the race for 10th place and Jen Clayton won her heat with a time of 24.76 for 11th place.

Sophomore Afia Charles came up with a first-place time of 53.73 which currently leads the country in the 400 Meters.

UCF’s jumps crew represented the Knights well by taking gold in both the triple jump and long jump. Jacquelyn Gilchrist bested her personal record in the long jump with a leap of 6.17m/20-03 (0.8), which ranks second in the country, to defend her first-place finish from last year’s meet.

Tomika Story took first place in the triple jump with a wind-aided mark of 12.40m/40-08.25 (2.5). Gilchrist claimed second place in the event with a jump of 12.27m/40-03.25 (+0.0) to rank second in the country.

After clearing the bar and hitting the cushion on landing, Erica Weiss sprang up with a smile on her face and clapped her hands to celebrate her new personal best in the pole vault with a mark of 3.77m/12-04.50. The junior bested her competitor by more than two feet to rank among the top 15 in the country.

Sophomore Destinee Romain earned two third-place finishes on the day in the hammer and the shot put. She topped her personal best in the hammer by nearly 40 feet, recording 48.74/159-11 before posting 12.85m/42-02 in the shot.

In her first collegiate hammer throw appearance, Precious Ogunleye posted a mark of 45.47m/149-02 to fall less than a foot shy of the UCF freshman record. Ogunleye also finished third in the discus with a toss of 42.40m/139-1.

UCF’s distance crew saw a number of personal-best performances. Freshman Cody Castillo had a memorable debut in her first collegiate outdoor meet with two personal-best outings. Castillo earned fourth place to pace five Knights in the 1500 Meters with a time of 4:44.60. She followed that up with a personal record 2:20.28 in the 800 Meters for 10th place.

Jessica Pachay ran a personal best 19:27.08 for fourth place in the 5000 Meters. Erica Winston took fourth place in the 800 Meters with a time of 2:13.84 to qualify as UCF’s best finisher in the race.

UCF’s 4×100 Relay team of Christal Peterson, Tyler Smith, Clayton and Leland combined to run a fourth-place time of 44.84, which at the time of publication ranked sixth in the nation.

UCF closed out the day with the top 4×400 Relay performance as Charles, sophomore Aurieyall Scott, freshman Christal Peterson and sophomore Erica Winston combined to clock 3:42.78, which ranks third in the nation.

Up next, the Knights will host the UCF Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Saturday will also serve as Senior Day to recognize the Knights’ outstanding Class of 2012.

But these days, they are no longer the subject of feature stories or glowing recaps of their performances. The phone now rings to inquire about their daughter, UCF sophomore sprinter Dominique Booker.

“The tables certainly have switched,” Stefani said. “She doesn’t even understand how great she is.”

Considering her family lineage, it’s not surprising that Dominique had an impressive freshman year at UCF last season. But her destiny to become a runner nearly derailed when she was 8 years old.

Roughly a decade ago, the East Orange, N.J., native competed at the Penn Relays and did so well that her parents stopped her from running on the spot.

“So many runners that start at 8-9 years old, by the time they get to be 19 they either hate track or reach their peak,” Stefani said. “Because of her dad and myself, everyone thought that she’d run track. There’s a lot of pressure with that. I wanted her to get her own identity, so we just pushed her into everything else.”

A natural athlete, Dominique excelled in everything she tried. She studied ballet, jazz and contemporary dance. She played lacrosse and basketball, and some even suggested she try out for football because of her agility, speed and strength.

In her freshman year of high school, her basketball coach was so impressed by her speed that he asked the Immaculate Conception track coach, Haneefah Norman, to come watch Dominique run suicides after practice one day. It was decided that she would join the track team in the spring.

“She walked in the room one day four years ago and said, `OK I’m ready to run,'” Stefani said. “She was very nonchalant. She ran and won the state meet two months later.”

At first, Dominique was reluctant to use her parents as resources. Back then, she viewed them as her harshest critics and oftentimes felt overloaded with their advice. At one state meet, before her race in the 200, her mother threw in some last-minute pointers of how she should run the race. It shook Dominique so badly that she choked in the event.

“I ran into the bushes and hid from both of them until the meet was over. I still had to run the 4×4 and they were trying to look for me,” Dominique recalled, now with a smile on her face. “This is why I didn’t want to do track because I didn’t want to listen to them. Over time, the three of us matured with each other. They started to realize that Dominique is Dominique. You’re not going to change the way I think. They started realizing we can’t make her run like we did. Now I listen to them. Sometimes they have to balance between coach and parent, but I do value what they say.”

By the time she graduated Immaculate Conception High School, she had set 11 school, six conference, four county and three state records. She decided on UCF in large part because of head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert’s loyalty during the recruiting process.

Dominique wasted no time contributing to the program, emerging as a C-USA Indoor and Outdoor champion and an NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships qualifier.

Although she was one of a school-record 12 student-athletes to represent UCF at the NCAA Outdoor East Preliminaries, a left hamstring strain forced her to attend the NCAA Outdoor Championships as an alternate rather than a starter for the 4×100- meter relay team. She put on a brave face for her teammates, but she was a wreck inside.

“They were warming up and I was warming up with them. We prayed over the baton and then they said, `OK let’s strip down,’ and I started to unzip, getting ready, and then I realized, I’m not running,” Dominique said. “Tears started coming to my eyes. That’s the worst feeling ever to have. Last year showed me that I care about track and that I want it more than I thought I wanted it. That’s where my drive came from even more for this year.”

This year – an Olympic year – is full of possibilities for Dominique. She has had talks with both of her parents about the arduous road to get to London, and she is determined to make her sophomore year a memorable one.

“My sophomore year I qualified for the trials,” her father, Martin, said. “From day one of that year, I dedicated my season to doing the right things: a lot of sleep, a lot of eating right, focusing on school work and track. I shared that with her just hoping that maybe she’ll listen and learn from what I’ve done. Maybe at this time and age, she can see it is commitment that one has to have to be exceptional and reach that plateau of the Olympic trials.”

Added her mother, Stefani: “I see her as an Olympian, hands down, no question. It’s all what she wants, but she can be an Olympian.”

Only time will tell.

The Knights now hold both the C-USA indoor and outdoor titles after having won indoors in February. For the second straight outdoor season and the third time in the last 12 months, Caryl Smith Gilbert was named the C-USA Coach of the Year for leading her team to a third league crown.

Jackie Coward was named the Performer of the Meet with two individual titles in the 100-and 400-meter hurdles. Freshman Aurieyall Scott was also honored with two individual awards as she was named the High Point Scorer and Freshman of the Meet. Scott was also the 2011 C-USA Indoor Track & Field Championship Freshman of the Meet in Houston earlier this year.

“This is the best championship we have won because we came together as a team and we fought for it,” Smith Gilbert said. “This is the first time that truly did that to win. Everybody was able to contribute. “I am very proud of the whole team, because we earned points in places that we didn’t expect. That is a testament to how these young women performed this weekend. Coach Chakouian and coach Brown did phenomenal jobs in preparing their athletes for this meet.”

Entering the day, the Knights sat 10th in the standings with just 14 points. SMU, which had 60 points entering Sunday, built their lead to an even greater figure, scoring in events in which there were no UCF athletes participating. That quickly changed once the Knights began to take to the track in the early evening.

The Knights’ 4×100-meter relay team earned 10 important points with an exciting first-place finish in the day’s first race. UCF’s Dominique Booker, Scott, Lynne Layne and Sheila Paul set a new C-USA Championship record as well as a new program mark to edge out Houston for the title in 43.42. The Cougars and Knights were neck-and-neck through the first two legs before Layne and Paul put some distance between the Black and Gold and second-place Houston to set the new record.

UCF solidified its championship with another first-place finish in the final event of the day: the 4×400-meter relay. Champelle Brown, Afia Charles, Sandy Jean and Erica Winston claimed the top spot in what was the most exciting race of the day. With the crowd on its feet as the teams came around the final turn and down the backstretch, Winston held off a late surge by the competition with a strong push to cross the line in 3:37.83.

For the second year in a row, Coward claimed the top spot in the 100-meter hurdles, posting a new meet record in the process of 12.97. That time was a thousandth of a second off her own school record set earlier this season.

But UCF did not get points from just Coward in the event, as the Knights owned all three spots on the podium with Mica Wimberly claiming the second spot and Karessa Farley taking third, both earning All-C-USA honors. Wimberly, who matched her personal best in the race, just edged Farley as both posted times of 13.41 to earn eight and six points, respectively. Ashley Bolling also scored for the Knights in the event, finishing fifth in 13.82 for the four points.

Coward became a two-time 400-meter hurdles C-USA champion with a meet record 57.59 in the finals. Her time also broke a UCF record she had set in mid-April of 57.78. Jean earned six points as she finished strong down the stretch to place third and earn all-conference honors in a personal-best and UCF freshmen record 58.84. Last year’s champion in the event, Aisha-Maree Frazier placed fifth in a season-best time of 1:00.31 to earn four points for her team.

Coward had previously won the title in the event as a freshman in 2009 as UCF has now won this event three straight seasons.

The Knights continued to own the sprints as Scott broke her one-day old school record in the 100 meters to take the league crown in 11.25. Scott qualified first on Saturday with a then-record time of 11.29, only to best that mark by four-thousandths of a second in the finals to take the top spot on the podium and 10 points for her team. Paul was second with a new personal best of 11.35 to pick up eight points. Booker just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in a personal-best 11.45, while Layne picked up two points in seventh, running a 11.54 in the finals.

Scott would go on to claim the top spot in the 200 meters as well, making her a two-time C-USA Champion in her first season with the Knights. After winning the 100 meters, Scott moved on to take the top spot in the 200 with a 23.06. Paul earned six points as she finished third in a new personal-best mark of 23.53. Booker (4th, 23.63) and Layne (6th, 23.96) rounded out the event, earning five and three points, respectively.

UCF earned seven more points in the 400 meters as Charles ran the second-fastest time in the event ever by a Knight, crossing fourth in 53.73. Charles set the record of 53.60 on Saturday to qualify for Sunday’s final where she earned five points. Brown was seventh in 54.73 to claim two points.

Freshman thrower Satrina Oliveira opened her competition’s eyes as she moved from sixth on the pre-championship performance list to take third place and earn six points in the discus. Her personal-best throw of 148-08/45.32m in the final flight shot her up the list to earn all-conference honors. Fellow freshman thrower Destinee Romain finished second in the first flight with a distance of 135-03/41.22m, barely missing qualifying for the finals.

Pole vaulter Erica Weiss also stepped up her performance on the final day of competition, setting a new personal record to finish fourth. After cheering on her teammates and watching other events take place for three days, Weiss cleared a height of 12-3.50/3.75m on Sunday afternoon to earn the five points. Just last week at the UCF Twilight, Weiss had set her previous personal-best height of 12-1.25/3.70m, only to break that on the final day of the conference championship meet.

The triple jump saw the Knights add seven more points to their total late in the day as Jacquelyn Gilchrist set a personal record with a jump of 40-6.25/12.35m in Sunday’s final flight. Gilchrist placed fifth to earn four points, while Mica Wimberly was sixth overall in 39-8.50/12.10m to earn three points. Tomika Story was 10th in 38-4.25/11.69m.

Freshman Ne’Ausha Logan also earned a point as she finished eighth in the 800 meters in 2:11.79.

Sunday’s championship marks the first time that a UCF coach has guided a team three straight championship titles.

After jumping out to a strong first day, SMU was not able to sustain the same level of scoring on Sunday, finishing second with 119 points. Houston (87 points), UTEP (74 points) and ECU (71.5 points) rounded out the top five. Houston’s men’s team took the league crown with 175 points in a field of just eight teams.

The Knights will now have an extended break before several members of the team will move on to the NCAA Regionals in Bloomington, Ind., in little over a week.

“We ran well today, I thought,” head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “Two school records at the Penn Relays against some very formidable opponents is always nice. We know we have some work to do moving forward as we prepare for the conference meet and we know that starts with the Twilight on Thursday.”

After qualifying ninth overall on Thursday afternoon for the top spot in the College Division final, UCF’s 4×400-meter relay team dominated Saturday afternoon. In the final event of the weekend for the Knights, the foursome of Champelle Brown, Afia Charles, Sandy Jean and Aurieyall Scott combined to run a program-record 3:36.76 to claim first place.

Smith Gilbert shook up the relay team, which had set the previous record of 3:39.60 just two weeks ago at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville. Jean and Scott were added to the event this weekend and moved into the third and fourth legs for Saturday’s final; flipping Scott from fourth on Thursday. It was a good move as the Knights shattered the previous mark by nearly three seconds en route to claiming first place.

The 4×800-meter relay team also broke a record in the final day of competition from Philadelphia. UCF’s team of Ne’Ausha Logan, Carley Dart, Erica Winston and Dan’Elle Bellamy placed 10th in a record time of 9:00.50, eclipsing the old mark set two years ago of 9:01.70.

The Knights have now broken the school records in the 4×100-, 4×200-, 4×400- and 4×800-meter relays during the 2011 outdoor season.

In the Championship of America final heat of the 4×200-meter relay, UCF’s Dominique Booker, Sonnisha Williams, Lynne Layne and Sheila Paul combined to finish fourth in 1:34.18. The Knights qualified sixth in 1:34.33 Friday afternoon.

UCF was also represented by two individuals in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles and the 100-meters on Saturday. Jackie Coward ran to a fifth-place finish in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles in 13.63 after posting the fastest-qualifying time on Friday. Booker was the lone UCF entrant in the finals of the 100 meters, finishing ninth in 11.68.

UCF Track & Field – The Penn Relays, Philadelphia, Pa. – Franklin Field, Day 3 – April 30, 2011

4×200-Meter Relay (Championship of America)

4×400-Meter Relay

4×800-Meter Relay

100-Meter Hurdles

100 Meters

“We had a lot of fast times and a lot of good marks today and this weekend,” head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “I was very impressed with the 4×100 relay team, even though we still have some execution glitches to iron out moving forward. Coach Paul Brown has done a great job with the jumpers and the 800 group.”

Early in the afternoon, UCF’s 4×100-meter relay team comprised of Dominique Booker, Aurieyall Scott, Lynne Layne and Sheila Paul broke the previous school record of 45.05 by more than a second, crossing in 43.73 to take first place.

Booker wasted little time writing her name in the record book again as she set a new school record in the 200 meters shortly thereafter. The freshman posted a time of 23.70 to eclipse the mark set last week by Sonnisha Williams of 23.79 in the event. Booker finished fourth overall with the new school and freshman record to her credit. Lynne Layne (23.79, 5th), Sheila Paul (23.92, 7th) and Amanda Leland (25.60, 34th) rounded out the Knights running in the 200.

Scott also made her mark on the record books Saturday as she set a new UCF freshmen record in the 400 meters. Scott ran a personal-best 53.96 to finish fourth overall. Champelle Brown was fifth in 54.26, while the previous freshmen record holder Afia Charles was 11th in 55.40, besting her old PR of 55.86 set last week. Dan’Elle Bellamy ran a personal-best 57.23 and Eva Pierce was 28th in 1:01.25.

Layne was the top runner in the 100 meters as she crossed in 11.73 to claim first place. Williams set a new personal-best time in the event with a 12.05 to finish 13th. Tomika Story (12.34, 28th), Leland (12.34, 29th) and Jacquelyn Gilchrist (12.58, 34th) all posted PRs for the Knights in the 100 meters Saturday at the annual meet.

The only Knight competing in the triple jump, Story made her mark on the rest of the competition as she claimed first place with a distance of 40-4.00/12.39m.

Indoor All-American Jackie Coward made her outdoor debut Saturday afternoon. In the 100-meter hurdles, she was the top collegiate finisher and second overall in 13.28. Teammate Karessa Farley was not too far back, finishing third in 13.68. Sandy Jean (14.87, 23rd) and Ashley Bolling (15.07, 24th) were the other two members of UCF entered into the event.

In the 400-meter hurdles, Coward again finished second in 59.89. Sandy Jean was fourth as she set a new PR in the event, crossing in 1:01.19. Aisha-Maree Frazier was 15th in 1:04.57.

A day after breaking the program record in the long jump, Williams finished tied for third in the high jump. The sophomore cleared a height of 5-4.25/1.63 Saturday afternoon.

The 1,500-meters saw Danielle Scaffidi finish 24th in 4:56.55, while Katya Groff posted a personal-best 4:58.43 to finish 25th overall.

The Knights’ 4×400-meter relay teams ran the final event of the day. The UCF `A’ team finished third in 3:41.87 made up of Brown, Charles, Layne and Jean. The quartet of Bellamy, Ne’Ausha Logan, Frazier and Carley Dart comprised the UCF `B’ team, which placed seventh in 3:48.07.

Dart and Logan joined Erica Winston in the 800 meters earlier in the afternoon. Winston finished fourth in 2:12.50 to pace the Knights, while Dart was eighth in 2:14.06 and Logan was 13th in 2:26.62. Mason Gardberg was the lone UCF athlete in the 5,000 meters, finishing seventh in 20:44.71.

Freshman throwers Satrina Oliveira and Destinee Romain continue to develop as they adapt to the collegiate level. Romain was eighth (43-3.75/13.20m) in the shot put, while Oliveira’s throw of 42-6.25/12.96m was more than two feet better than her previous best mark and earned her a ninth-place finish.

In the discus, Oliveira was 14th with a throw of 129-08/39.53 and Romain was 17th with a mark of 108-03/33.00m

“I’m really excited about what we did today in the shot put,” assistant coach Jeff Chakouian said. “We executed in the meet what we have been doing in practice, which is going to help us build on their throws. The athletes are working extremely hard in the weight room and on getting to that level of consistency which will help us in upcoming meets.”

The UCF Invitational featured both the men’s and women’s teams from Florida, Miami, FAU, FIU, Tennessee and Rhode Island among others in a non-scoring format.

The Knights will return to action next weekend as they head to Gainesville for the Pepsi Florida Relays. The event gets underway Friday and continues through Saturday.