UCF sprinters Octavious Freeman and Aurieyall Scott produced a bit of magic in Friday’s 100-meter final at the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field.
Freeman earned the best finish by a Knight in any event of the NCAA Outdoor Championships in school history with her second-place, personal best time of 11.00 (+0.9) to break her own school record. The performance ties for the eighth-best mark in collegiate history.
She finished four-hundredths of a second behind defending champion English Gardner of Oregon, who clocked the second-best time (10.96) in the history of the meet.
Scott crossed the finish line in fourth place at 11.14, just two-hundredths of a second shy of her personal best. Combined, UCF’s dynamic duo hauled in 14 points in front of a national television audience while picking up All-American First Team honors. UCF is the only team in the country that boasted two top-five finishers.
The Knights have 19 points and currently stand in seventh place heading into the final day of the meet with three scoring opportunities still up for grabs. UCF has already tallied more points than any team in school history at the outdoor championships.
Freeman and Scott will compete in the 200 meters and have also qualified for Saturday’s 4×100 relay along with freshman Alexis Faulknor and junior Afia Charles after breaking the school record in the event in the semifinals.