University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Conference USA Indoor Championships
Cougar Dominate Indoor Championships With Double Sweep
2/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Feb. 26, 2005
HOUSTON, Texas - For the third time in school history the University of Houston men's and women's track and field teams swept the Conference USA Indoor Championships, taking the team titles this afternoon in the Yeoman Field Houston.
For the men, this marks three consecutive indoor titles, while the women pick up their first since 2003. The Cougars also swept the indoor titles back in 1998, and now have five such sweeps since joining Conference USA in 1996-97. Houston swept the outdoor championships in 1998 and 2000.
Today's championship keeps the men's team alive for an unprecedented triple crown in 2004-05 C-USA track and field. Back in the fall, the men captured the C-USA cross country title, and now set their sights on the outdoor title on May. No Conference USA men's team has ever captured the elusive triple crown, and only Marquette's 1995-96 women's squad has accomplished the rare feat.
The men easily outdistanced second-place TCU, 166.5 to 101, putting an exclamation point on their dominant win by winning the 4-x400-meter relay in a time of 3:15.11. As for the women, they out-pointed Charlotte, 117-83.5, even without running the final relay event.
UH head coach Leroy Burrell picked up his seventh Conference USA Indoor Coach-of-the-Year award and fifth on the men's side. He now has an incredible 12 C-USA coach-of-the-year awards.
"We have a real good group of kids," commented Burrell. "We have a lot of good leadership on both teams and really talented athletes. We got really good all-around performances from both teams on the track and the field. Our kids have a lot of experience here and we have won this meet quite a bit.
"Therefore, when it really gets tough or we have a little adversity, they know how to respond to it. That's just one of the advantages we enjoy. Our kids have done a really good job. They have worked really hard and they earned it."
The Cougars set the tone for the day by capturing 22 points in the heptathlon. Ron Veillon won his third straight indoor heptathlon title by coming from seventh place to win with 5,134 points. Nicholas Garza snapped up second-place with 5,105 points, while Jerret Flax took fifth with 4,817.
The men started piling on the points throughout the afternoon, beginning with some early field events. Jonathan Reeves took second in the shot put with a heave of 56-11.5, and Vincent Marshall grabbed third place in the triple jump with a leap of 49-2.5.
Later in the day the Cougars grabbed an impressive 28.5 points in the pole, as Tom Rusteberg, Scott Duckworth and Jason Myers went one-two-three. Kevin Watson tied Marquette's Zach Pawlowski for fourth.
By the time the running finals arrived, the Cougars were primed for an explosive afternoon. Andrew Carruthers successfully defended his C-USA crown, taking the 60-meter hurdles in a personal-best 7.81. Milton Manson's 8.17 gave him rights to fourth-place in the hurdles.
Preston Perry took fourth in the 60-meter dash in a time of 6.82, then followed that up with a fifth-place showing in the 200-meters with a time of 22.01. Kolee Latson snagged fourth-place in the 400-meters, running an impressive 48.57, and Andy Morris took eighth in the 800-meters with a 1:58.95.
Coming in second place is sometimes not all that bad, considering first-place was won by the Athlete of the Meet. Sesar Figueroa took second in both the mile (4:09.43) and the 3000 meters (8:32.76), losing out both times to TCU's All-American, Kip Kangogo.
Cheryl Garner's two individual titles highlighted the women's impressive run to the league title. Garner clocked a 23.79 to win the 200 meters, and then timed out a 54.43 to edge out teammate Keisha Howard (54.63) in the 400 meters.
In the 60 meters the Cougars garnered 10 points, as LaDedra Guy (7.51) and Jasmin Jackson (7.57) took third and fifth, respectively. Behind Garner's 200-meter victory were teammates Howard and Guy, who clocked in 24.83 and 24.92, respectively to finish sixth and seventh.
The Cougars came within three one-hundreths of a second of winning another title, when Alicia Cave was beaten at the finish line by Southern Miss' Raquel Washington in the 60-meter hurdles. Jeketa West took sixth in a time of 8.81, while Rachel Easley grabbed two points with her 8.83 seventh-place finish.
In the field events the Cougars continued to stack up points, putting distance between themselves and second-place Charlotte, who finished with 83.5 total points. UH had a second-place finish in both the high jump and triple jump, as well as a fifth-place total in the shot put to pile up the points.
Krystal Ward-who yesterday won the pentathlon crown-high jumped 5-8.5 in a jump off to grab second. Caresir Hamilton took sixth and Nichole Brundage seventh with both women leaping 5-6.5.
Hamilton returned later to take second in the triple jump, leaping 40-4.25. Finally, Tinisha Wesley chunked the shot put 47-7 to finish fifth in that event.
Players Mentioned
