With 35 points, the Knights earned the best finish by a non-BCS team since 2000 (BYU, 4th place). They more than doubled their previous program-best point total (16 points, 2011) at an NCAA Outdoor Championship meet to take fifth place behind perennial powers national champion Kansas, Texas A&M, Oregon and LSU.

“This is the best finish in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ history so I’m very excited about it,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “It was a big year. It was an exciting year. It was a year full of surprises. More than the finishes, the records and the championships – all of the things and injuries we overcame is (an even bigger deal) to me. Everyone stepped up and pulled through. Everyone on the team started believing that we could make things happen.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ entered the final day of competition with three scoring opportunities up for grabs in the 4×100 relay and 200 meters.

Alexis Faulknor, Aurieyall Scott, Afia Charles and Octavious Freeman finished runner-up to SEC Champion Texas A&M in the relay with their time of 43.36. Freeman blitzed down the final stretch, blowing by the field while hunting down the Aggies to give the Knights their best relay finish at the meet in school history, first team All-America status and eight points toward the team standings.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Freeman and Scott were at the blocks again ready to challenge LSU’s Kimberlyn Duncan – the two-time defending champion – in the 200-meter finals. Although Duncan successfully repeated, Scott earned her best finish in an individual outdoor championship final with her third-place, all-conditions personal-best of 22.48 (+3.5).

The NCAA indoor 60-meter national champion collected three first team All-American honors at this year’s meet, bringing her career total to an unparalleled 14 distinctions.

Freeman finished seventh in the race in 22.92, also picking up her third first team All-American honor of the meet. She now boasts nine career awards.

Throughout the four-day meet, the Knights brought in four medalist performances from Jen Clayton (long jump), Scott (200M), Freeman (100M) and the 4×100 relay in front of a combined attendance of 40,446.

Several Knights will set their sights on the Junior and Senior USA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, held June 20-23.

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, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s dynamic duo hauled in 14 points in front of a national television audience while picking up All-American First Team honors. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 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. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 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.

And all of this was just in day one of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Junior Jen Clayton made history as the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ track and field team’s highest finisher in a jumps event at the championships thanks to her third-place, wind-aided leap of 6.42m/21-00.75 (+3.3). She is just the second long jumper in school history to earn first team All-American laurels.

Meanwhile on the track, the 4×100 relay improved upon the school record set earlier this season and boasted two automatic qualifiers for Friday’s 100-meter finals.

Sophomore Octavious Freeman’s strong final leg of the 4×100 relay helped her team automatically qualify for Saturday’s finals. Alexis Faulknor, Aurieyall Scott, Afia Charles and Freeman edged SEC Championship runner-up LSU for the fastest time of the third heat (43.15) and were second only to Texas A&M for the day. The group now appears at No. 8 among all-time collegiate performers in the event.

The quartet aims to become Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s first team to medal in a relay event in program history.

Freeman and Scott set the 100M semifinals ablaze with the two-fastest qualifying times of the day thanks to their all-conditions personal bests.

Freeman jetted to her first sub-11 performance with a wind-aided 10.99 (+2.8) to edge defending NCAA champion English Gardner. Scott clinched her heat, as well, by besting Pac-12 champion Jenna Prandini of host Oregon in 11.00 (+2.6). Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Oregon are the only two programs in the country with multiple entries in the finals.

Running alongside SEC champion Kimberlyn Duncan of LSU in the 100M’s final heat, Faulknor fell short of qualifying for the finals by three-hundredths of a second but earned All-American Second Team distinction with her time of 11.37 (+2.3) for 14th place.

Sophomore Sandy Jean racked up All-American Second Team laurels in the 400 hurdles with her time of 58.38 to just miss out on the finals in 10th place.

Scott and Freeman will represent the Black and Gold in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s only event Thursday, the 200 meters. They enter the race, which will air on ESPN3, as the top-two regional qualifiers looking to clinch their spot in Saturday’s final.

Visit for a complete guide detailing how to follow the Knights at the NCAA Championships.

June 6 – ESPN3 (Watch)

(Top two of each heat plus next two best times overall advance to finals)

Scott measured up against world-class competition last weekend at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic in Gainesville. She led the Knights in the 100 meters with a first-place finish and season-best time of 11.27 (+0.9), ascending to No. 8 among the NCAA this season. The Greenbelt, Md., native shined against a field that included 2011 USA champion Shalonda Solomon and 2008 World Championships bronze medalist and two-time Olympian Tahesia Harrigan-Scott.

She later blazed to a wind-aided 22.73 (+2.6) for her fastest season-opening 200-meter race. With the fourth-best time in the NCAA this year, she finished runner-up to seven-time Olympic medalist and nine-time World Championships medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown, who clocked the new all-conditions world-best time of 2013 (22.18).

This award marks Scott’s fourth-career conference athlete of the week distinction (indoor and outdoor) and her third of 2013. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ has won four of the five weekly awards handed out so far in the outdoor season.

The Knights are the only Conference USA team present in the national team rankings and are second only to Florida (No. 6) among programs in the state. Texas A&M edged Kansas for the No. 1 spot and is followed by Arizona, LSU and Arkansas in the top five.

Coupled with the outdoor season, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ has not fallen out of the top 25 dating to April 26, 2011. Moreover, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ currently boasts eight marks that stand among the NCAA’s top 20 in their respective categories this year.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ travels next to the Arkansas Invitational on April 26-27. The trip marks the Knights’ return to Fayetteville for the first time since Scott became the NCAA 60-meter champion and 200-meter runner-up and Freeman earned two bronze medals at the 2013 Indoor Championships.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ in the NCAA Rankings

Athlete, Event, Mark, Rank

Freeman proved unstoppable once again by topping the 200-meter school record with the world’s top wind-legal time this year, 22.57 (+0.1). The world’s current 100-meter leader edged three-time World Champion and two-time Olympic medalist Lauryn Williams in a photo finish to claim first place.

Logan catapulted herself into the NCAA’s top 25 this year with the best performance by a Knight in the 800M since 2009, finishing third in 2:06.37. She shaved nearly three seconds off her previous season best and continues to reign as Conference USA’s top 800M runner in 2013.

After a lengthy weather delay that sidelined the field athletes for more than four hours and pushed back the race schedule by 30 minutes, the 4×100 relay opened the meet with a performance that was worth the wait. Afia Charles, Aurieyall Scott, Alexis Faulknor and Freeman combined to cross the finish line in 43.58 for the third-best time in the NCAA this season. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Texas A&M are currently the only two programs in the country to boast multiple times in the event that rank among the nation’s top 10.

Charles had a breakthrough in the 400 meters with her fastest race in more than a year, clinching first place with a time of 53.77. Charles moved up on the NCAA East Region leaderboard to No. 15.

Scott etched her name on the NCAA’s top-10 leaderboard this season in her first 100-meter race since her gold-medal finish at the NACAC U-23 Championships last July. She won the second heat in 11.30 and finished second overall only to Lauryn Williams. Senior Amanda Leland produced the second-best wind-legal time of her career (11.85) in the race before topping her personal best in the 200M soon after with a time of 24.64 (+0.0).

Junior Erica Winston clocked a new personal-record 2:10.55 in her best 800M race in two years to finish seventh. Freshman Caroline Pauls won the second heat of the event in 2:13.24, which was good enough for ninth place.

Sandy Jean emerged as the top collegiate finisher in the 400 hurdles with her time of 59.20, marking her second time of 2013 that ranks among the East Region’s top 15. Freshman Rayeisha Lowe-Chin recorded the best time of her career at 1:03.60.

Three Knights finished among the top five in the 1500 meters. Sophomore Amelia Williams led the way in third place by improving her personal best for the second time this season (4:45.07). Sophomore Cody Castillo finished fourth in 4:51.58 and freshman Rachel Petrik was close behind in fifth with a time of 4:55.17.

Freshman Jocelin Adona capped the races as the Knights’ lone representative in the 3,000- meter finals and cruised to third place with a personal-record time of 11:00.56.

Freshman Megan Patterson boasted the best finish by a field athlete of the day with a second-place toss of 14.21m/46-07.25 in the shot put. The Knights also earned two top-three finishes from Erica Weiss in the pole vault after clearing 3.60m/11-09.75, and Precious Ogunleye in the discus with a mark of 45.75m/150-01.

Ogunleye led three Knights in the hammer throw with a fourth-place showing of 53.43m/175-03 for another mark that ranks among Conference USA’s top five this season.

Up next, the Knights will visit Gainesville for the second time in three weeks when they compete at the Tom Jones Invitational on April 20.

On Wednesday, Scott became the third-straight Knight to clinch the conference’s highest honor. Hurdler Jackie Coward (2011) and sprinter Octavious Freeman (2012) have been saddled with the award in previous years.

Scott became Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s first NCAA champion of any sport by matching her NCAA-leading time and school record 7.13 in the women’s 60-meter dash final. She also picked up a silver medal at nationals in the 200m clocking 22.71.

Scott won gold in the 60M, 200M and 4×400 Relay at the C-USA Indoor Championships in February. The junior has been recognized as a USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week and a two-time C-USA Track Athlete of the Week.

She won six-of-seven finals this season at both 60M and 200M. With 11 All-American honors to her name, she is Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s most decorated student-athlete.

Scott and the rest of the No. 11 Knights will be in action in their final home meet of the season on Friday and Saturday at the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Track and Field Complex. Admission is free.

The junior track and field star became Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s first NCAA champion of any sport by claiming first place in the 60 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She joins an elite group of Knights who have won national championships: cheerleading (UCA; 2003, 2007) and volleyball (AIAW; 1978).

“What a historic night for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ track and field,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “We had two unbelievable performances. Aurieyall Scott is an NCAA champion and Octavious Freeman was third in the 60 meters. As a team, we finished fifth with only two athletes scoring. I am very proud and excited for the great weekend they had, and this is just an indication of things to come for the outdoor season. Both of these young women have sacrificed a lot and worked very hard to get to this point, so it is exciting to watch them reap the benefits of their work.”

Scott matched her personal record 7.13, which is fifth-fastest time in collegiate history and makes her the fourth-best performer in the event all-time. She edged Oregon’s reigning champion English Gardner (7.15) and was joined on the medalist stand by her teammate and roommate Freeman, who earned her second bronze medal with a season-best time of 7.16.

Coupled with their silver and bronze finishes in Friday’s 200 meters, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s dynamic duo were responsible for scoring the most points in program history (30) at the NCAA Championships for the Knights’ best finish ever at fifth place.

After their performances this weekend, Scott is now an 11-time All-American and Freeman is a six-time All-American.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ opens the outdoor season Saturday in Orlando with the first of its two home meets. The Black and Gold Challenge will start at 9 a.m. with the javelin at the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Track and Field Complex.

The Knights captured the title with 132.5 points, besting runner-up Memphis by 39.5 points. Junior Aurieyall Scott earned Performance of the Meet, Alexis Faulknor won Freshman of the Meet and Caryl Smith Gilbert earned her fifth C-USA Coach of the Year honor.

In perhaps the most defining moment of the day, the sprinters swept the podium of the 60 meters. Scott bested the meet record, the school record and her personal record with a blistering performance of 7.13, which ranks as the NCAA’s new leading time. Octavious Freeman earned silver at 7.22 and Faulknor clinched the first medal of her career with a bronze finish and new PR time of 7.43. Senior Lutisha Bowen also scored points in seventh place at 7.52, giving Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a whopping 26 points in the event.

Scott continued to impress in the 200 meters with her second meet record in the event in as many days. This year’s world leader posted the second-best time of her career (22.91) for gold. Freeman’s season-best time of 23.35 picked up a silver medal, and Faulknor hit a new personal best 24.10 to score points in fifth place.

Bowen earned her first C-USA medal with her runner-up finish in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.27.

Junior Afia Charles rewrote her own school record in the 400 meters with a personal-best 54.02, which won her heat and was six-hundredths of a second short of the leader. Her time was better than the previous meet record.

The throwers excelled with a school-record performance and two personal bests in the shot put. Precious Ogunleye captured her second school record of the weekend with a monster personal best of 15.17m/49-09.25 for fourth place. Destinee Romain topped her personal record with a mark of 14.06m/46-01.50 to tally more points in seventh place.

Freshman Anne-Marie Blaney picked up her second school record in as many days, shaving time off her precious 3,000-meter record with a sixth-place finish of 9:43.59.

The 800-meter runners had a productive day, as well, as Ne’Ausha Logan secured a bronze medal with the second-best time of her career, 2:09.77. Erica Winston fell in step behind her at 2:10.88, shaving nearly three seconds off her previous personal record.

Two jumpers added points in the high jump for the Knights. Freshman Allison Lampert produced a career-best day with a sixth-place showing of 1.68m/5-06.00. Sonnisha Williams missed her personal best by half-an-inch with a season-best leap of 1.68m/5-06.00.

Scott, Charles, Sandy Jean and Logan comprised the 4×400 relay that capped the day with a first-place finish with its second-best time of the season, 3:40.83.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ now sets its sights on the NCAA Indoor Championships behind held at Arkansas on March 8-9. A season ago, the Knights earned their highest finish in school history (eighth place) at the meet.

WOMEN’S TEAM FINAL

1. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ – 132.5

2. Memphis – 93

3. UAB – 83 4. East Carolina – 59

5. SMU – 52

6. UTEP – 46

7. Houston – 44

8. Tulsa – 37

9. Southern Miss – 30

10. Tulane – 29

11. Rice – 28

12. Marshall – 26.5

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ signed Smith Gilbert to a deal that keeps the four-time Conference USA Coach of the Year through June 2016.

“The track and field program’s continued success both in the classroom and on the track is a testament to the hard-working student-athletes who represent Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, but it starts first and foremost with its leader,” said Todd Stansbury, vice president and director of athletics. “ is a tremendous coach and more importantly, an even better person. She conducts herself and the team with integrity and character. We are happy that she will continue to be a Knight in the years to come.”

Under Smith Gilbert’s guidance in 2012, the track and field team earned its best finish (eighth place) at the NCAA Indoor Championships in school history. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ won its fourth C-USA title, produced six All-Americans with 13 distinctions throughout the year and capped the season by sending four Knights to compete at the USA Olympic Trials.

Among those Olympic Trial competitors,  was one of two collegiate athletes who advanced to the finals of the 200 meters and finished with a school-record performance in the primetime nationally televised race.

She expects the same results off the track and constantly preaches to her student-athletes about the importance of earning their degrees. Since taking over the program, Smith Gilbert has witnessed 61 Knights merit recognition on the C-USA Academic Honor Roll for earning a grade point average of 3.0 or better. In 2012 alone, 18 members of the team earned this praise.

“I am thankful to Todd Stansbury and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ for the opportunity to continue to lead this program,” Smith Gilbert said. “I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far, but our work is not finished. I am excited about this season and the many years to come as a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Knight.”

For complete coverage of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Athletics, visit the Knights’ website – .

Freeman and Scott were nominated for the award after phenomenal years on the track representing Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ all the way to the Olympic Trials this past June. The duo combined for seven All-America First Team honors during the indoor and outdoor campaigns and helped Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ to a program-best eighth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and the No. 19 spot overall outdoor.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ baseball coach Terry Rooney was also nominated for Coach of the Year, but Orlando City Soccer head coach Adrian Heath was selected as the winner in that category.

A crowd of more than 350 of Central Florida’s sports elite were on hand to experience the SPORTYS at Full Sail University. Hosted by the Central Florida Sports Commission, the event honored the top area teams, high school, collegiate and professional athletes, coaches, deserving local residents and businesses throughout Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties.

The SPORTYS will be broadcast on WFTV Channel 9 on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. and on WRDQ TV 27 on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 5 p.m.