University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
UTSA Invitational
Nora Monie Wins Discus at UTSA Invitational
3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
San Antonio â€" Freshman Nora Monie made an immediate impact on the 2016 outdoor season, winning the discus, as the Houston Cougar men's and women's track and field teams opened the first day of the UTSA Invitational on Friday, in San Antonio, Texas.
With rain looming in the area, Friday's running events and the men's discus were postponed until Saturday morning, but not before Monie stepped in the discus ring for the first time in her career. The Sharyland, Texas native used a throw of 148'-3" (45.19m) on her first throw of her career to qualify for the finals. Heading into the final throw, Monie trailed Sadie Suenram of Wichita State who recorded 151'-0" (46.03m) in her opening throw, but Monie stepped into the ring and launched her best of 151'-3" (46.10m) to top Suenram and win the event.
A trio of freshmen throwers opened competition on Friday, in the women's hammer throw. Mikaila Martin was Houston's first thrower to qualify on the day, finishing sixth with a throw of 166'-5" (50.73m). Taylor Scaife finished the event ninth with a throw of 153'-3" (46.72), while Maliya Evans finished 16th at 138'-4" (42.17m).
On the men's side, senior Damon Thompson opened his outdoor campaign by qualifying for the finals of the men's hammer throw. Thompson launched a throw 192'-6" (58.68m) to finish fifth overall. Felipe Valencia placed ninth with a throw of 165'-10" (50.56m), while Jose Herrera threw 163'-5" (49.81m) to finish 11th.
ÂOriginally scheduled for Friday evening, the men's discus, men's and women's steeplechase and men's and women's 5,000-meters will now be held Saturday morning beginning at 9:30 a.m. The remainder of the second day of action will remain unchanged with field events beginning at 11 a.m., and running events kicking off at 2 p.m.
NATIONALLY RANKED SIGNING CLASS
The Cougars made noise throughout the entire offseason when the men's signing class was ranked as the No. 2 class in the nation by Flotrack last July. The current freshmen on campus are led by three incoming student-athletes on the MileSplit All-American team. Marcus McWilliams (110m hurdles), Gerald Mills (200m) and John Lewis III (100m) all earned All-America honors, while distance runner Jahnavi Schneider was named as the No. 3 cross country recruit in the state of Texas by TxRunning.com.
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Players Mentioned
