University of Houston
Houston Indoor Opener
Houston Men Take Indoor Opener; Women Place Seventh
1/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Jan. 25, 2003
The University of Houston Track and Field team hosted the Houston Indoor Open, its second straight indoor meet of the 2003 season, on Saturday (Jan. 25) afternoon at the Yeoman Field House inside the Athletics/Alumni Center with the Cougar men claiming a victory and the women placing seventh in a field of 12 teams.
Among the schools competing in the meet included Rice, Southern-Baton Rouge, Southwest Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Texas (Women), TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Southern, University of New Orleans, South Alabama and UT-Pan American.
Thanks to the Houston's strong showing in both the men's 60-meter and 200-meter dashes, the Cougars overtook cross-town rival Rice, who finished in second place, by just six points, 81-75. The Cougars' Robert Foster claimed the 200-meter run with a season-best time of 21.81 seconds, while teammates Preston Perry (21.89 seconds), Fred Day (22.21 seconds) and Dameon Williams (22.39 seconds) followed him across the finish line to take four of the top five places.
In the 60-meter dash, Day came in second with a finishing time of 6.80 seconds, while Foster (6.83 seconds) and Brandon Womack (6.85 seconds) placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Headlining the preliminaries of the race, however, was Darvis Patton. Patton, who ran unattached, set both a new meet and Field House mark in the opening prelim heat with a time of 6.58 seconds, beating the previous mark of 6.60 seconds set by Maurice Green in last weekend's (Jan. 18) Hilton Memorial Meet at the Yeoman Field House.
Rounding out the team scoring for Houston included Sesar Figueroa, who placed fourth in the mile run with a time of 4:23.61, a third-place finish by Cole Dailey in the 3,000-meter run, a third and fifth place finish by Andrew Carruthers and Milton Manson in the 60-meter hurdles and a fourth-place finish by the Cougars' 4x400 relay team, which crossed the line with a time of 3:20.32.
In the field events, Jason Edwards, who claimed the long jump last weekend at the Hilton Memorial Meet, closed out the afternoon in fourth place, while Gene Tennison took second in the weight throw (14.90 meters) and Jacob Rodriguez and Tennison each gave the Cougars points in the shot put with fourth and sixth-place finishes, respectively.
For the Houston women, sprinters Lauren Smith and Magenta Taylor had strong finishes in the 60-meter hurdles. Smith placed fourth with a time of 8.52 seconds, while Taylor took sixth and four team points with a time of 8.68 seconds. The Lady Cougars' 4x400 relay team placed second, following Texas, who easily won the meet overall, across the finish line in a time of 3:41.56.
In the field events, Lady Cougars Shayla Bowmam and Allie Booker each recorded points for Houston in the weight throw, finishing second and sixth, respectively. Bowman, who won the event last weekend by nearly two feet, finished with a throw of 15.79 meters, while Booker followed with a season-best 14.19 meters.
The meet was the second of six indoor meets that Houston hosts this season. The Cougars host the Houston Indoor Classic next weekend on Saturday, February 1, the Houston Indoor Invitational on Saturday, February 8, and the UH/RunSport All-Comers Meet on Saturday, February 15 before the Conference USA Indoor Championships on February 28-March 1.
