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Freeman: World’s Fastest Knight

The fastest woman in the world is a UCF Knight once again.

Last year, Octavious Freeman announced her presence in her collegiate outdoor debut with a Florida Relays meet record in the 100 meters with the then-world’s fastest time. On Friday, she decided to one-up herself by besting her meet record and rewriting a 15-year-old Percy Beard Track record in her first 100M race of 2013.

Her first-place, personal-best and new-school-record 11.02 (+1.2) is currently the fastest time in the world this year. It not only leads the NCAA but also matches the ninth-best time on the all-time collegiate performance list.

And her day wasn’t over, yet.

Freeman also shined in the 200 meters two hours later when she matched the NCAA’s top time this season with a wind-legal 22.85 (+1.8). She held off three-time World and Olympic gold medalist Natasha Hastings for first place.

Freshman Anne-Marie Blaney made quite a statement in the first 5000-meter race of her career by setting a new school, freshman and personal record. Her fourth-place time of 16:40.31 erased the 14-year-old school record by more than 23 seconds and currently ranks third in Conference USA. Her classmate Heather Classe also improved her personal record by roughly 30 seconds, crossing the line in 17:43.13.

Despite facing a headwind, Sonnisha Williams won the university division long jump for the second-straight year with a season-best leap of 6.15m/20-02.25 (-1.1), which ranks third in C-USA and among the NCAA’s top 20.

Sophomore Precious Ogunleye recorded the second-best discus throw of her career with a fourth-place finish of 46.03m/151-00 to jump into the top 10 of the C-USA standings.

Junior Ne’Ausha Logan continued her strong start to the outdoor season by improving upon her C-USA-best 800M time for the third-straight week, crossing the finish line in 2:09.27 for 15th place.

Sandy Jean posted the best performance by a runner in C-USA this season and jumped into the NCAA’s top-25 list this year. She narrowly missed her personal best with a season-best time of 58.96 for ninth place.

Junior Afia Charles held on firmly to her No. 2 spot among Conference USA leaders this season in the 400M with a season-best 54.01 for 18th place.

Freshman Alexis Faulknor finished 12th in the 100M with a wind-aided time of 11.61, and junior Jen Clayton produced an all-conditions personal-best 11.87 (+2.1).

Senior Erica Weiss matched the second-best mark of her career in the pole vault, breaching C-USA’s top-five leaders this season by clearing 3.75m/12-03.50 to tie for ninth place.