University of Houston Athletics
Houston Track and Field to Participate in Last Chance Meets
3/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
March 5, 2004
University of Houston track and field athletes on the verge of NCAA-automatic qualifying standards will have one final opportunity this weekend to join next week's NCAA Championships field in Fayetteville, Ark.
Five members of the Cougar team will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to participate in the Last Chance Meet hosted by LSU on Friday, March 5, and seven head to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the Fast Times Qualifier hosted by Florida on Saturday, March 6.
At the Last Chance Meet, field events will begin at 3:30 p.m., while running events follow at 6:30 p.m.
The Fast Times Qualifier gets underway with the men's weight throw and field events at 11:00am, and running events begin with the women's 5,000-meter run at noon.
Both meets serve as the final chance for student-athletes to qualify for next week's NCAA Indoor Championships hosted by the University of Arkansas.
While the Cougar men's and women's teams already have a combined six NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the books, they will be competing this weekend for one final shot at setting automatic marks in order to earn an outright invite to the NCAA Championships.
Sprinter Stanford Routt, the 2004 C-USA Male Athlete of the Year, is the lone Cougar who has already earned a for-sure spot at next weekend's meet, after running an automatic-qualifying time in the men's 200-meter dash en route to taking gold in both the men's 60-meter and 200-meter dashes at last weekend's Conference USA Championships.
Cougars competing in Baton Rouge this weekend will be Jason Edwards (jumps), Johnathan Reeves (throws), Tristian Whitley (jumps) and Shayla Bowman (throws).
Cougars making the trip to Florida include Andrew Carruthers, who set a provisional qualifying mark (7.93 seconds) in the men's 60-meter hurdles in taking gold at the C-USA Indoor Championships last weekend, Sesar Figueroa (mile), Vincent Marshall (triple jump), Preston Perry (60m), Alicia Cave (60m hurdles), Renee Clarke (sprints), LaDedra Guy (sprints) and Kiesha Howard (sprints).
Figueroa, who won the men's mile at the C-USA Indoor Championships last weekend with a career-best finish time of 4:11.16, will look to advance in the event, while hurdler Cave, who set a provisional mark in the 60-meter hurdles with a finish of 8.37 seconds at the Houston Indoor Opener on Jan. 17, will look to represent Houston in the same event.
Next up and closing out the 2004 indoor track and field season is the NCAA Indoor Championships next Friday and Saturday (March 12-13) at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Players Mentioned
