University of Houston Athletics
Houston Heads Cross Town for Victor Lopez
3/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
HOUSTON â€" After a successful first weekend to the outdoor season, the Houston Cougar men's and women's track and field teams return to their home city to compete in the Rice Victor Lopez Classic on Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26.
The Classic, which will host high school athletes as well beginning on Thursday, March 24, will see collegiate action begin Friday morning a 9 a.m. with the men's hammer throw. The women's hammer will follow at 11:30 a.m.
Friday's running events will consist of a majority of the distance events including the 1,500-meter run, 3000-meter steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000-meter runs with action beginning at 7 p.m.
The remainder of the running events will be split into separate sections on Saturday, March 26. The morning session will begin at 11 a.m., with the men's 110-meter hurdles with the session continuing until 3 p.m. Running resumes at 6:30 p.m., with the men's and women's 800-meter run and rolls through the 4x400-meter relay at 8:40 p.m.
Saturday's field events begin at 10 a.m., with the men's shot put, women's discus and the men's and women's long jump. Field events continue throughout the day, concluding with the women's high jump and men's pole vault at 6 p.m.
Sophomore Felipe Valencia returns to the shot put ring after a third place finish at the UTSA Invitational last weekend. Valencia, the 2016 American Indoor Champion in the shot, threw 58'-6.0" (17.83m) to open the outdoor season.
In the sprints, junior Bria Carter will look to continue a hot start to the season when she competes in the 100-meter dash. Carter won the event at the UTSA Invite last week when she ran a wind-aided 11.57 in San Antonio. In the men's 100, LeShon Collins returns to action for the first time since earning Second Team All-American honors at the NCAA Championships in the 60-meter dash.
Freshman Marcus McWilliams will head to the outdoor track for the first time in his career when he competes in the 110-meter hurdles on Saturday. McWilliams is competing for the first time since a fourth place finish in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships, which earned him First Team All-American Honors.
In the women's throws, freshman Nora Monie climbs back into the discus week just one week removed from her first collegiate outdoor win. The Sharyland, Texas native won the discus in San Antonio when she threw 151'-3" (46.10m).
FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
Live results for the entire meet will be made available courtesy of RiceOwls.com and can be found by clicking HERE.
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.
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 ().
