University of Houston Athletics
Mario Burke Named The American AOTW
3/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Providence, R.I. â€" After an impressive showing on the opening weekend of outdoor season, freshman Mario Burke has been named the American Athletic Conference Track Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday.
Burke opened the outdoor season by carrying the baton in the second leg of the men's 4x100-meter relay at the UTSA Invitational last week. The relay squad ran 39.86 to claim the event and clock the fourth fastest 400-meter relay time in the nation this season.
From there, Burke would go on to compete individually in the 100-meter dash. In his first outdoor event of his career, the Bridgetown, Barbados native ran 10.34 to claim victory in the event. The time for Burke stands as the fifth fastest mark in the NCAA so far this year.
Burke would go on to cap a stellar weekend by running the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay to close out the meet. Burke and teammates Drake Murphy, Raymund Clarke and Amere Lattin ran the 20th fastest time in the NCAA, when they crossed the line in 3:13.00 to finish second.
For Houston, Burke's award now marks the first outdoor award of the season, and the fifth time the Cougars have claimed The American Male Track Athlete of the Week honors after winning four during the indoor slate. Senior Issac Williams claimed the final award of the indoor season on Feb. 23 as well as on Feb. 2, while junior sprinter Cameron Burrell earned the award on Jan. 19, after posting the top mark in the world at the time in the 60-meter dash, and junior distance runner Brian Barraza took home the accolade a week later on Jan. 26 after posting The American's top time in the 3000-meters at the Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational.
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.
UP NEXT FOR HOUSTON
The Cougars return to the Houston area March 25-26, when they compete in the Rice Victor Lopez Classic. The meet will last three days from March 24-26, with day one consisting of high school competition, and days two and three combining both high school and collegiate action.
FOLLOW THE COUGARS
Fans can keep up with the latest in University of Houston Cougar athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/HoustonAthletics), Twitter (@UHCougars), Instagram (houstoncougars) and YouTube.com (Youtube.com/UHAthletics). In addition, the Track and Field team has established its own official Facebook (facebook.com/HoustonCougarTrackandField) and Twitter pages ().
