BOISE, ID – Greek Cypriot Boise State University sophomore Dafni Georgiou broke the school’s record for the women’s 60-meter hurdles at the 2020 Ed Jacoby Invitational, finishing with a time of 8.5 seconds, The Arbiter, Boise State’s student newspaper, reported. The previous record was 8.52 seconds, set in 2009 by Megan Olivetti, The Arbiter noted.

Georgiou always dreamt of coming to the U.S. from her native Cyprus to continue her education and track career, The Arbiter continued, adding that her mother “helped make her dream come true” by emailing her daughter’s track results to coaches in the U.S. and receiving a response from Boise State.

Georgiou told The Arbiter about her record-breaking result, “I was expecting to break it because, before I came here, I had [a]personal best of better than the record, so I was hoping that it will happen this year because it didn’t happen last year. I was really happy about it. My first race went really good.”

“When Georgiou broke the 11-year-old record, she only looked the slightest bit impressed with herself when she reflected on it,” The Arbiter reported, adding that “Georgiou was quick to say her goal this season is to break her personal best, which she said is ‘0.01’ seconds faster than the university record.”

Assistant coach Gavin O’Neal told The Arbiter, “She’s uber-competitive, like uber-competitive, and especially with herself. I think that’s good for the group, for people to see her [and] her competitiveness. I think it raises everybody else up a little bit.”

Georgiou’s teammate, roommate and best friend, fellow sophomore MaLeigha Menegatti told The Arbiter about Georgiou’s record-breaking effort, “I knew from the beginning. She got out super well and I knew she was going to run fast because [she was] disappointed the day before. [She said] ‘I’m just gonna have fun and compete.’ I was screaming and jumping up and down and then she saw the time and then she went crazy she was like ‘Yeah!’ and said some Greek words.”

O’Neal said of Georgiou’s progress, “She’s really worked on her English. She really likes living here and being here which is very different from being from Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean [that has]beautiful weather all the time. She’s adapted really well here to those kinds of things,” The Arbiter reported.

Georgiou told The Arbiter that “she was most surprised by some mannerisms Americans have.”

“People here are always welcoming, and hold the doors and are just so kind to you, even when they don’t know you they smile to one person just because,” Georgiou said, The Arbiter reported, adding that “though Georgiou has enjoyed her time in Boise, she plans to go back to Cyprus to pursue a professional career in track after graduating.”

“Living without my parents, living in the country 10,000 miles away, is so different and we have a different culture, Boise is so much different than Cyprus,” Georgiou told The Arbiter.

Up next for Georgiou is the Last Chance College Elite Meet in Seattle, Washington, February 21-22.