C-USA championships next hurdle for indoor track team

The No. 9 women's indoor track and field team will attempt to cap off its stellar season this weekend in Houston at the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

After receiving its first-ever national top-10 ranking by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association last week, the team dropped from No. 8.

A strong showing at the C-USA Championships could possibly catapult the Knights into a top-5 ranking, as they are already the highest ranked C-USA team in the USTFCCCA rankings.

In the USTFCCCA women's indoor track and field conference index, C-USA ranks seventh with UCF being the conference's only nationally ranked top-25 team.

Last year's C-USA indoor track and field champion, UTEP, is unranked. UCF has had a more impressive season than UTEP, raking in impressive finishes most recently at the Tyson Invitational and the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Meet.

Junior Jackie Coward and Sonnisha Williams will look to continue their 2011 success at the championships. Both received C-USA female indoor track and field athlete of the week accolades on Feb. 15 and Jan. 25, respectively. Coward will compete in the 60 and 400-meter hurdles and Williams will compete in the 400-meter sprints and the indoor long and high jump.

The Knights won't have to worry about competing against former UTEP track star Blessing Okagbare, who led the Miners to the 2010 championships. Okagbare was a bronze medalist for Nigeria at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics in the long jump.

The C-USA Championship lasts all day Friday through Saturday and is the last major indoor event for the Knights before they travel to College Station, Texas, for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in March.