TRACK AND FIELD
• 2010 C-USA Outdoor Champions • 2011 C-USA Indoor Champions • 2011 C-USA Outdoor Champions
Now in her fifth season at the helm of the track and field and cross country programs, Caryl Smith Gilbert has quickly made UCF synonymous with championship quality. The Knights head into the 2012 season with three-straight C-USA titles to their credit and are ready to make a mark on the national scene. In 2011, UCF swept the indoor and outdoor track and field championship titles one year removed from winning its first ever C-USA Championship in outdoor track. Smith Gilbert coached eight student-athletes to All American honors, including four Knights to six outdoor first team distinctions. Throughout the year, Smith Gilbert fostered the development of C-USA Track Athlete of the Year and UCF’s first two-time All-America first team honoree, Jackie Coward. After starting the year unranked, the Knights went on to finish 17th at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships. Between the 2011 indoor and outdoor seasons, 16 school records and seven freshman records were broken on numerous occasions under Smith Gilbert’s guidance.
Caryl Smith Gilbert Head Coach Fifth Season Alma Mater UCLA, 1991 Hometown Denver, Colo. COACHING TIMELINE Head Coach UCF 2007-present Assistant Coach Tennessee 2002-2007 Assistant Coach Alabama 1999-2002 Assistant Coach Penn State 1997-99 Head Coach George Washington HS 1994-97
The Knights sent a school-record 12 student-athletes to the NCAA East Preliminary Round, including a nationleading 15 entries into the sprints and hurdles events. Smith Gilbert also witnessed results in the classroom as five student-athletes were named to the 2011 Division I All-Academic Track and Field team, more than any other school in Conference USA. In the spring of 2010, Smith Gilbert helped lead her team to a dramatic come-from behind finish to claim the C-USA Championship in outdoor track. The Knights took the lead with three events remaining and held off a late-surge by UTEP to claim the conference title. In a championship that had 21 total events, UCF athletes had 32 separate season-best and 22 personal-best performances in the four-day meet. One of Smith Gilbert’s runners during the 2010 season would go on to become the first NCAA Outdoor AllAmerican. Coward finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in the NCAA Track & Field Championships at Historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon. The track and field program has risen at an intense rate. In 2009, in just her second season, UCF finished in second place at the C-USA Outdoor Championships and third at the C-USA Indoor Championships. Under her tutelage, UCF sent a record five athletes to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in 2009 and finished 35th at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The program also finished in ninth place at the NCAA Outdoor Regionals, its highest all-time finish. The Knights also won the title and set a school record in the shuttle hurdles at the prestigious Penn Relays. The performance also gained the program the ACCUSPLIT/Nike Relay Award at the end of the season. Individually, three Knights gained NCAA Indoor All-American distinctions in 2009 and four won C-USA individual event titles - two indoor and two outdoor. In 2008, her first season in charge, it was obvious that Smith Gilbert had the program heading in the right direction. The program finished third at the C-USA Outdoor Championships, broke 23 previous school records, had two C-USA event champions and one NCAA Indoor All-American.
COACHING HONORS 2011 South Region Coach of the Year (Indoor and Outdoor) 2011 C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year 2010 C-USA Outdoor Coach of the Year 2009 South Region Outdoor Coach of the Year 2005 USTCA National and Mideast Region Assistant Coach of the Year for Sprints and Hurdles
COACHING STAFF: CARYL SMITH GILBERT
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