University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
UH / RunSport All-Comers
Figueroa, Hallal lead Cougars
2/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Feb. 11, 2006
Houston - Jennifer Harper's first indoor season continues to be a learning process for the University of Houston sophomore from Klein Collins. Harper won the women's 800 in 2 minutes, 17.65 seconds on Saturday in the UH RunSport All-Comers meet at the Yeoman Field House, then began considering ways to improve for the Conference USA meet Feb. 24-25 on her home track.
"I'm a little frustrated because I think I should have run a couple of seconds faster" said Harper, who missed the 2005 indoor season because of a stress fracture. "I have to learn to transition faster into my finish. Not having run indoors before, it's a little hard to gauge the remaining distance to the finish."
Jennifer's older brother Tommie was a recent UH middle distance runner (2001-03) and she is currently stepping up in range, having run the 1200-meter leg for the Lady Cougars' winning distance medley relay the week before.
Cougar Sesar Figueroa took the men's 3000 in 8:24.49, which is a school record beating Jim Thorpe's 8:25.51 set in 1988. This comes after he ran the mile in 4:08.85 to finish eighth at the Tyson Invitational Friday night at Fayetteville, Ark. Andy Morris of UH was second in the men's 800 in 1:58.38. Oumama Hallal was second in the women's 3000 in 10:27.01 and third in mile in 5:10.71.
UH exes Dawn Burrell, Alicia Cave and Jacob Rodriguez won their events. Burrell, a 2000 Olympian, led the long jump at 20-0 1/2. Cave sped over the 60-meter hurdles in 8.56. Rodriguez threw the shot 56-11 1/2.
Texas Southern ex Marcus Harris raised his indoor personal best to 7-4 1/4, an automatic qualifier for the USA Indoor Nationals in two weeks at Boston, then had a close miss at 7-5 3/4. A tight hamstring had curtailed his training since clearing 7-3 1/2, also an automatic qualifier, last month at the Houston Indoor Opener.
Abilene Christian ex Kevin Dilworth took the men's long jump at 24-6 1/4. Dilworth, 32 on Tuesday, was the USA outdoor champion in 1999 and competed in the 1997 and 1999 World Outdoor meets for the USA. Oklahoma's DaBryan Blanton, competing unattached, won the men's 60 in 6.64, followed by Ivory Williams (6.68), Brendan Christian (6.74) and TCU ex Jabari Fields (6.76). Williams, a former UH recruit from Beaumont Central, has turned pro. Christian, a transfer from Texas, is sitting out this season at UH.
Players Mentioned
