Everything You Need To Know About the 2023 UCF Knights Track and Field Team – Black and Gold Banneret
Everything You Need To Know About the 2023 UCF Knights Track and Field Team Black and Gold Banneret
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The Knights set out to repeat both their Indoor and Outdoor titles in their final AAC season
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Last year, the UCF Knights’ Track and Field team proved it was more than just the Rayniah Jones Show as multiple long-lasting program records fell, the team took home not one, but two AAC titles, and even more athletes joined Jones in Tracktown, USA for the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championship.
Now, the Knights have just one opportunity to defend those AAC titles as they enter their final year in the conference.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Knights for their 2023 Indoor and Outdoor campaigns:
Indoor and Outdoor AAC Champions
For the first time since 2013, the Knights took home the conference championship in both the Indoor and Outdoor seasons, setting conference records in points along the way. It was the team’s 1st Outdoor AAC title and 2nd Indoor AAC title.
Over the course of the season, new school records were set in eight different events across the indoor and outdoor competitions.
Knights athletes made it back to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships for the first time since 2017, while the NCAA Outdoor Championships had the most Knights athletes it’s had since 2014.
The USTFCCCA does not release rankings until after the season begins. Regardless of that, however, the Knights now have to defend their back-to-back indoor and outdoor conference titles in their final seasons in The American.
With many staple athletes from last season’s group returning, the Knights look like threats to repeat.
Dana Boone- 5th season
At the head of the reigning AAC Indoor and Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year is 5th-year head coach Dana Boone. In her first four seasons, no UCF Track and Field team under her finished higher than 5th in a conference meet. Then, it all came together in 2022.
While this season will still return individual athletes that made deep runs in 2022, Coach Boone will have to plug a few holes in her relay teams.
Watch our preview video with Coach Boone here:
Rayniah Jones
Does she even need an introduction anymore?
Rayniah Jones took the UCF community by storm back in Spring 2021 and now she is back (with a new style) to try and qualify for her 4th and 5th NCAA Track and Field Championships.
In 2022, she qualified to go to Tracktown, USA for the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles for the Indoor Season and in the 100-meter hurdles and as a member of the 4×100-meter relay team in the Outdoor season.
From a program history perspective, she set a new program 60-meter hurdles record last year and still holds the 100-meter hurdle record from back in 2021.
Latasha Smith
Sometimes, the timing just does not work out.
Despite setting new program records in both the Indoor and Outdoor 400-meter sprints and being a part of the 4×400-relay team that set a new program record, Boone said three different runners on the 4×400-relay team came down with illnesses before the NCAA East Preliminary. This development ended Smith’s Outdoor NCAA run before it started, leaving just her Indoor Championship appearance in the 400-meter sprint, where she finished 14th.
However, this is still the same Latasha Smith that did all those things back for another season.
Asherah Collins
Rayniah Jones was not the only one that made their 2nd NCAA Outdoor Championship last season. Asherah Collins once again qualified for the Triple Jump and improved from a 23rd-place finish in 2021 to a 17th-place finish in 2022.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully her having her breakout year, ‘cause she’s been kinda teetering on there, but I really feel like she can make that transition this year to becoming an elite jumper because she has all the tools necessary to do that,” Boone said.
Natalia Madison
The 2022 season was a renaissance for the UCF Track and Field Multis.
Contributing to that was Palm Beach Gardens native Natalia Madison, who enters her sophomore season already with the 3rd-best Heptathlon mark in program history under her belt.
She follows in the footsteps of what was probably the program’s biggest offseason loss.
Brittany Floyd
The 2010s decade had come and gone, but no UCF Track and Field Multi athlete was able to take down the program’s pentathlon and heptathlon records. Then, in 2022, in came a transfer from UAB.
Boone said Brittany Floyd raised the standard for the Multis.
Not only was she breaking the overall pentathlon and heptathlon records, her fellow Multis that she trained with, Madison and Holly Cassels, broke the program’s freshman heptathlon and pentathlon records respectively.
“She only had that one year, but boy did she make an impact,” Boone said.
Isabella Richardson
Noah Goldberg
She already made her mark on the Cross Country program by racing the 4th-fastest 5K in its history this fall. Now, on the track, distance-running coach Bryan Jackson said that Richardson, a New Zealand native, can establish herself as one of UCF’s best distance runners since Anne-Marie Blaney.
Before coming stateside, Richardson got experience running 800 meters, 1500 meters, a mile, 3,000 meters, and 5,000-meter events. Her current personal best in the outdoor 3,000 meters (9:53.42), would lower the UCF program record in the event by about seven seconds.
- 9 Freshman
- 16 Sophomores
- 11 Juniors
- 6 seniors
- 29 Floridians
- 7 International Athletes
2023 UCF Track and Field Roster
Name | Event Group | Year | Hometown | 2022 School | 2022 Achievements (Postseason or Record Broken) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Event Group | Year | Hometown | 2022 School | 2022 Achievements (Postseason or Record Broken) |
Adrienne Adams | Throws | Jr. | Portmore, Jamaica | UCF | NCAA Championships: Outdoor Discus Throw |
Paige Archer | Sprints | Fr. | Nasau, Bahamas | Queen’s College | |
Tamia Badal | Hurdles | Jr. | Tomball, Texas | UCF | |
Andrea Ballestero | Distance | Fr. | Clearwater, Fla. | Osceola HS | |
Samieryah Bradwell | Sprints | Sr. | Tallahassee, Fla. | UCF | Part of 4×400-relay team that broke program record |
Holly Cassels | Multis | So. | Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. | UCF | Broke Freshman Pentathlon record |
Alicia Coleman | Hurdles | So. | Riviera Beach, Fla. | UCF | |
Asherah Collins | Jumps | So. | Lake City, Fla. | UCF | NCAA Championships: Outdoor Long Jump |
Charlotte Crook | Distance | Sr. | Preston, England | UCF | Broke Outdoor 1500-meter run record |
Mackenzie Czurak | Distance | So. | Winter Springs, Fla. | UCF | |
Beyonce Defreitas | Sprints | Jr. | British Virgin Islands | UCF | NCAA Championship: Outdoor 4×100-meter relay |
Alexandra Del Re | Distance | So. | Tequesta, Fla. | UCF | |
Ashlyn Green | Throws | So. | DeBary, Fla. | UCF | |
Leiya Green | Jumps | So. | Jacksonville, Fla. | UCF | Tied Freshman Indoor Long Jump Record |
Kaylor Harris | Hurdles | Sr. | Mesquite, Texas | UCF | |
Chloe Hill | Throws | Jr. | Niceville, Fla. | UCF | |
Lillian Holtery | Distance | So. | Niceville, Fla. | UCF | |
Kendall Hughes | Distance | Fr. | Brandon, Fla. | Newsome HS | |
Janyah Jasper | Sprints | Jr. | Dallas, Texas | Colorado State | |
Paige Jaszczak | Distance | Fr. | Mims, Fla. | Titusville HS | |
Riley Jaszczak | Distance | Fr. | Mims, Fla. | Titusville HS | |
Kaliah Jones | Jumps | Jr. | Kingston, Jamaica | UCF | |
Rayniah Jones | Hurdles | Jr. | Miami, Fla. | UCF | NCAA Championships: 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles, 4×100 Relay |
Paige Kelly | Distance | So. | Niceville, Fla. | UCF | |
Kai’lyn Kirkland | Sprints | So. | Jacksonville, Fla. | UCF | |
Daija Lampkin | Sprints | Sr. | Middletown, DE | Alabama | |
Sofia Lantz | Distance | Fr. | Lake Mary, Fla. | Lake Mary HS | |
Natalia Madison | Multis | So. | Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. | UCF | Broke Freshman Heptathlon Record |
Brenna Mullaney | Distance | So. | Severna Park, Md. | UCF | |
Katie Pinnell | Distance | Sr. | Coconut Creek, Fla. | UCF | |
Zoe Pustilnik | Distance | Fr. | Delray Beach, Fla. | Spanish River HS | |
Isabella Richardson | Distance | Fr. | Auckland, New Zealand | St. Cuthbert’s College | |
Mariana Rodriguez | Distance | Jr. | San Antonio, Texas | UCF | |
Jasmine Scott-Kilgo | Jumps/Hurdles | Sr. | Windsor, Ontario | UCF | |
Latasha Smith | Sprints | Jr. | West Palm Beach, Fla. | UCF | Broke Indoor and Outdoor 400-meter records, Part of Outdoor 4X400-relay record |
Penelope Sosa | Distance | Fr. | Miami, Fla. | Miami Coral Park HS | |
Ani Wells | Sprints | Jr. | Tampa, Fla. | UCF | |
Rachel Wheatley | Distance | So. | Port Orange, Fla. | UCF | |
Nicole Whitaker | Throws | Jr. | Delray Beach, Fla. | UCF | |
Camryn Williams | Distance | So. | Keystone Heights, Fla. | UCF | |
Kiah Williams | Sprints | So. | Hallandale, Fla. | UCF | Part of 4×400-relay team that broke program record |
I’Asia Wilson | Sprints | So. | Lakeland, Fla | UCF | NCAA Championship: Outdoor 4×100-meter relay |
During the Indoor season, the Knights will compete in three different events in Gainesville. Though, they will get a preview of one of their future conference mates as the sprinters travel to Lubbock, Texas for the Red Raider Open.
2023 UCF Indoor Track and Field Schedule
Date | Event | Location | Host | Event Groups Competing |
---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Host | Event Groups Competing |
Jan. 13 | Jimmy Carnes Invitational | Gainesville, FL | Florida | All |
Jan 20-21 | Vanderbilt Invitational | Nashville, TN | Vanderbilt | All but Sprinters |
Jan. 20 | Red Raider Open | Lubbock, TX | Texas Tech | Sprinters |
Jan 26-27 | Alachua County Collegiate Invite | Gainesville, FL | Florida | All |
Feb 2-3 | Celebration Point Indoor Classic | Gainesville, FL | Florida | All but Multis |
Feb 3 | Crimson Elite Invitational | Cambridge, MA | Harvard | Multis |
Feb 10-11 | Tiger Paw Invitational | Clemson, SC | Clemson | All but Distance |
Feb 10-11 | Valentine Invitational | Boston, MA | Boston U | Distance |
Feb 24-25 | AAC Conference Meet | Birmingham, AL | The American | All |
Mar 10-11 | NCAA Indoor Championships | Albuquerque, NM | New Mexico | Qualified Athletes |
During the Outdoor season, the team will only be leaving the state of Florida twice. Once in late April for the Georgia Tech Invitational and LSU Alumni Gold and potentially again in June should any athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas.
2023 UCF Outdoor Track and Field Schedule
Date | Event | Location | Host | Event Groups Competing |
---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Host | Event Groups Competing |
Mar. 17-18 | Black and Gold Invitational | Orlando, FL | UCF | All |
Mar 24-25 | Knights Invite | Orlando, FL | UCF | All |
Mar 31-Apr 1 | Florida Relays | Gainesville, FL | Florida | All |
Apr 7-8 | Miami Alumni Invite | Coral Gables, FL | Miami (FL) | Multis |
Apr 14-15 | Tom Jones Invitational | Gainesville, FL | Florida | All |
Apr 21-22 | Georgia Tech Invitational | Atlanta, GA | Georgia Tech | Distance |
Apr 22 | LSU Alumni Gold | Baton Rouge, LA | LSU | All but Distance |
Apr 28-29 | UNF Invitational | Jacksonville, FL | North Florida | All |
May 12-14 | AAC Outdoor Championship | Tampa, FL | South Florida | All |
May 25-27 | NCAA East Preliminary | Jacksonville, FL | North Florida | Qualified Athletes |
Jun 8-10 | NCAA Outdoor Championships | Austin, TX | Texas | Qualified Athletes |
UCF had a distance runner in an NCAA Championship: 2017. No distance runner since Anne-Marie Blaney in the 2017 Indoor Championship has made it to an NCAA Track and Field Championship.
UCF had an event national champion: 2013. Rayniah Jones qualified for the 60-meter hurdle final in last season’s Indoor Championship and the 100-meter hurdle final in the Outdoor Championship twice. She seems to be the most likely candidate from an individual athlete perspective to become the first Knight to win a national championship since Aurieyall Scott’s Indoor in the 60-meter dash title in 2013.