Knight Cap: Track thrives, Men’s Golf starts 2022 slate

The past week of UCF Knights sports saw one team compete in their last event before the conference championship, another team beginning its 2022 slate, and another team’s struggles continue. Plus, we name the Knight of the Week in your latest Knight Cap for Thursday, February 17, 2022.

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Track and Field returns to Clemson, sets more records

The UCF Track and Field Team returned to Clemson for the Tiger Paw Invitational last weekend, once again setting some new records and personal bests.

Some highlights from the action include:

- Sophomore Latasha Smith broke the program 400-meter dash record with a 52.88-second run that earned her 6th place overall. Smith breaks a mark that she herself set the last time the Knights were in Clemson.

- Junior Charlotte Crook set a new personal best as she took home 1st place in the 1-mile run. Her 4:47.77 time outpaced the runner-up by just under seven seconds.

- Freshman Asherah Collins broke the program freshman record in the Triple Jump with a 12.97- meter best jump (42 ft. 6.75 in.). The jump breaks a record Collins herself set nearly one year prior on Feb. 13, 2021. It earned her 8th overall in the event.\

Stay tuned for “Knight of the Week” for another highlight from this meet.

For more results from the Tiger Invitational, check out UCF Athletics’ Day 1 and Day 2recaps or view the results on adkinstrak.com.

The team travels to Birmingham, Alabama on Feb. 25-26 for The American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship.

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Men’s Golf opens season in Gainesville

The UCF Men’s Golf team opened its 2022 slate with the Gator Invitational in Gainesville this week.

As a whole, the team finished in 13th place with 860 (+20), 48 strokes behind host Florida, who went on to win the tournament with 812 (-28) strokes.

Individually, senior Teddy Tetak led the team, finishing in a tie for 34th with 214 (+4).

For the team’s full results, check out golfstat.com.

The team will have just over a week to regroup before they see action again in the Coral Creek Club Invitational, hosted by Florida Gulf Coast, in Placida.

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Men’s Tennis’ struggles continue

The UCF Men’s Tennis team drops to 1-7 after losses on the road against Florida State and then-No.14 Texas.

The Knights initially were able to come up with the doubles point against Florida State, thanks to a 6-3 win by junior Trey Hilderbrand and freshman Cooper White and a 6-4 win by freshman JC Roddick and senior Kento Yamada.

However, only juniors Lleyton Cronje (6-3, 6-2) and Bogdan Pavel (6-4, 6-2) could prevail in singles play, causing UCF to fall to the Seminoles, 4-3.

Two days later, the Knights were swept, 4-0, by Texas.

The Longhorns No. 57-ranked Micah Braswell (7-5, 7-5), No. 62-ranked Pierre-Yves Bailly (6-1, 6-4), and Siem Woldeab (6-1, 5-7, 6-1) got the singles-play victories necessary to clinch the sweep against Cronje, Hilderbrand, and Roddick respectively.

The Knights have a week to prepare for one more road trip before playing in Orlando for the entire month of March. First, they face No. 1-ranked Ohio State on Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. Two days later, they face Arkansas at noon.

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Knight of the Week

Rayniah Jones, Track and Field

Whenever sophomore Rayniah Jones has stepped onto a track this indoor season, it has more often than not led to either a podium finish or a new personal best, possibly even both.

This week, at the Tiger Paw Invitational, she did one of these things, and more.

After missing the final in the 60-meter hurdles her last time out, Jones ran an 8.03-second time in her preliminary heat before turning an 8.01-second time in the final, finishing 4th place in the process.

That 8.01-second time is not only the 6th-fastest collegiate 60-meter hurdles run in the country this season, but it also broke the program 60-meter hurdles record.

Jackie Coward has held the record for almost a decade, since her 8.02-second time in her senior year on Mar. 9, 2012.

Rayniah Jones has surpassed this mark in her sophomore season.

Combine this achievement with setting a new personal best in the 200-meter dash (23.80 seconds), and Jones has once again made herself undeniable for this week’s honor.