After earning All-America First Team honors in two events and winning a league title, UCF freshman Octavious Freeman has been named the Conference USA Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year. Freeman will compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials next week.
The Lake Wales native received All-America honors in the 100m and the 200m and took the C-USA title in the 100m. She placed fourth at nationals in the 200m with a time of 23.25 and finished fifth in the 100m in 11.41.
“To accomplish what she accomplished as a freshman shows her level of talent,” UCF head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert said. “We have been pleased with her performances this year and all of the great things she has done in the classroom and in the community. We are excited to see Octavious compete at the Olympic Trials and in the Black & Gold again next year.”
Freeman was named C-USA Freshman of the Meet after winning the 100m in an outdoor championship record time of 11.09, finishing third in the 200m (23.53) and ran the second leg of the winning 4x100m relay team (43.47). At the Pepsi Relays in April, she posted a then-world-leading time of 11.10 in 100m that qualified her for the Olympic Trials.
Freeman, who helped the Knights claim their third-straight C-USA title last month, is the second Knight in as many years to garner the league’s outdoor athlete of the year award. Jackie Coward was honored in 2011.