University of Houston Athletics
Lady Cougars Sign Four For 2002 Season
5/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
Houston, Texas - Looking to improve this year's second-place finish at the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, head track and field coach Leroy Burrell announced the signing of two state championship throwers, a former state high jump champion and two other state qualifiers for Houston's women's track and field team. Houston also added two other distance runners from the state of Texas.
The two state championship throwers are Tinisha Wesley of Klein High School and Allie Booker of Cy-Falls High School. Wesley was the 2001 Texas Class 5A state shot put champion with a throw of 43 feet, 4 1/4 inches. She also finished third in the discus with a toss of 138 feet, 10 inches.
She was also named the Most Valuable Athlete at Klein after winning her second regional championship in shot put and earning all-district honors in basketball. She was a four-time district champion in the shot put and a district discus champion as a junior and senior.
Booker won the discus for the second straight year at the Class 5A state championships with a throw of 143 feet. She had a career-best throw of 147 feet and was a regional discus champion as a junior and regional runner-up as a senior. She was a member of the National Honor Society and carried a 6.0 grade point average at Cy Falls.
During the indoor season, Booker finished fifth in the shot put at the Carl Lewis High School Invitational with a toss of 37 feet, 11 3/4 inches.
The former high jump champion is Krystal Ward of Rusk High School. A third-team all-state selection in basketball as a senior, Ward sat out the 2001 track season with injuries. She was the runner-up in the high jump and 300-meter hurdles as a junior at the 2000 Texas State Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a leap of 5 feet, 9 inches and a time of 44.07 seconds.
She was the state Class 3A high jump champion as a sophomore with a leap of 5 feet, 6 inches. She also finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.33 seconds that year.
In addition, Burrell also signed cross country and distance runner Terie Littlepage of Colerain High School in Ohio. Littlepage helped lead Colerain to its fourth straight state Division I cross-country championship. She was named a Colerain's top runner at the state meet with a fifth-place time of 18:16.
She also led Colerain to a Greater Miami Conference championship as she finished in second place at the GMC meet with a time of 18:28.This spring, Littlepage finished third in the 1600 meters at the GMC Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 5:18.2
Houston's fourth addition is Nichole Brundage of Pine Bush High School in Pine Bush, N.Y.. Brundage finished third in the New York State Indoor Championships with a leap of 5 feet, 5 inches. She also was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 10 1/4 inches and sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 35 feet, 9 inches at the state indoor championships.
This spring, she ranks among the top four high jumpers in the state with a leap of 5-4, top 10 in the long jump (17-7) and top 21 in the triple jump (35-9).
During the indoor season, Brundage ranked led Section 9 and ranked 10th among New York's top triple jumpers with a leap of 36 feet, 3 1/2 inches. She also was the top long jumper in Section 9 with a mark of 18 feet, 4 1/2 inches.
She won the high jump and triple jump at the Section 9 Indoor Championships with jumps of 5-4 and 36 feet, 3/4 of an inch, respectively.
In addition to those five, Houston also signed distance runners Veronica Ramirez of San Antonio's Holmes High School and Crystal Obey of Houston's Hightower High School.
Ramirez won the 1,500-meter and 3,200-meter runs at the District 27-5A Championships with times of 5:23.00 and 11:34.16, respectively. She finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run at the Region 4-5A Championships. Ramirez finished second in the 3.000-meter run at the 2001 Carl Lewis Indoor Invitational during the indoor season.
Obey competed in the 800 meters and 1,600 meters at Hightower, and had career-best times of 2:15 and 5:15, respectively. Obey finished second in the District 20-5A cross-country championships last fall with a time of 12:23.
