University of Houston Athletics
Track and Field Hosts Conference USA Championship
2/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Feb. 24, 2011
HOUSTON - The University of Houston hosts the 2011 Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championship this Friday and Saturday inside Yeoman Fieldhouse. This is the 13th year the Cougars have hosted the championships, and the 11th in a row since 2001.
The combined events start Friday at 9 a.m. and continue on Saturday at 11 a.m. The first field event Friday is the men's weight throw at 3 p.m. The running events take off at 5 p.m. with the men's 5,000m.
MEN
Dominance at Yeoman Fieldhouse during the C-USA Championships is nothing new for Houston. The men have won 10 team titles, eight more then second-place and former C-USA member Charlotte (2). Houston has won four straight, and seven of the last eight titles. With 73 individual titles, 58 more than second-place UTEP, and tied with UTEP for most relay titles (7), the Cougars have flat-out owned championship weekend.
Last year head coach Leroy Burrell was named Coach of the Year for the ninth time as he guided five student-athletes to individual titles. Errol Nolan won the 200m and 400m events and was named Freshman of the Meet and co-High Point Scorer of the meet.
Nolan holds the top marks in four events - 60m, 200m, 400m and 4x400m. Nolan set the school indoor record in the 400m (46.46), and the school record in the 4x400m (3:08.52).
Junior sprinter Kelvin Furlough ranks second in two of those races (200m, 400m) and ranks third in the 60m. Furlough also runs on the 4x400m relay team. Another sprinter held from the top marks in C-USA by his own UH teammates is Isaiah Sweeney - ranked third in the 200m and fourth in the 60m.
Tyron Carrier, Jeffery Thomas, Joseph Irabor also all rank among the top-15 in the sprints among conference foes proving once again, Houston will be tough to top in the sprint portion of the competition.
Doug Kelley possess the top marks in conference, and Houston history, in the 800m at 1:50.03, and ran the fourth fastest time in conference this season in the 400m.
Newcomer Wesley Ruttoh looks to lead the Cougars in the shorter distance races while Andres Santaolalla and Stephan Keller rank third and fifth in the 5,000m.
The men's field events are well represented in the top marks as well.
Last year at the championships, the Cougars swept the top three places in the long jump and five of the top seven spots overall. All five of those competitors for Houston will return, with Wesley Bray and Simon Stewart also joining the mix this year. Currently Chris Carter leads the conference with his 7.49m/24-7.00 mark, with Lamar Delaney in second, Sweeney in third, Thomas Lang in fifth, Bray in seventh, Jonathan Williams in 10th and Stewart 11th. The long jump is the deepest event for the Cougars.
But the Cougars are also well represented well in the triple jump, with Carter, Delaney, Lang and Williams ranking first through fourth so far.
Williams won the long jump in 2010 and Carter took first in the triple jump for the third-straight year.
The pole vault crew is another deep and talented field event for Houston. Senior Alex Bentley, 2007 conference champion, brings the second highest clearance into the competition. Freshman Seth Arnold is third and Bray and Derek Schutz come in at sixth and tenth, respectively.
Bray leads the way for the multievent athletes, as the defending indoor heptathlon champion. Kevin Johnson and Emmanuel Osadebey rank second and fourth in most points scored in the event this season.
John Fortune brings his sixth-longest shot put into the championships.
WOMEN
The women have fared well within the friendly confines of Yeoman Fieldhouse as well as the men, winning five team totals since joining the conference. Their five conference crowns is two more than second-place and cross-town rival Rice (3). The women's last team title was in 2006.
Houston has claimed the most individual titles (47) and the second most rely titles (5).
Leading the way for the short distance sprints for Houston will be Whitney Harris, Christie Jones, Grecia Bolton and Kalyn Floyd. Harris and Jones bring the seventh-fastest time into the weekend with their 7.44 time in the 60m.
In the 200m, Jones ranks fifth in conference (24.08) and Bolton is ninth (24.32).
The Cougars roster is filled with student-athletes who hold the second best mark in conference in their respective events. Five events see the Houston competitors ranked second.
Ciera Johnson holds the second-fastest 800m among league student-athletes at 2:11.09.
The women's 4x400m relay team also brings in the second-fastest conference time (3:41.96) while the distance medley relay team holds the third fastest time (12:03.83).
DeMeeka Jones, an Oklahoma transfer, is the Cougars lead hurdler with the second-fastest mark at 8.36.
Sophomore Megan Frausto, last year's runner up in the pentathlon, recorded the second highest point total among multievent athletes this season with 3,638 points and the fourth highest jump at 1.75m/5-8.75.
Karley King, who has won two pole vault competitions and placed second in two others this season, holds the second highest clearance at 3.86m12-8.00. Freshman Sage Hintnaus brings the fifth best mark at 3.55m/11-7.75.
Kiara Pulliam has thrown the third longest shot put with her 14.62m/47-11.75 distance.
Players Mentioned
