University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Victor Lopez Classic
Selena Sierra Wins Steeple at Victor Lopez
3/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
HOUSTON â€" Senior distance runner Selena Sierra opened her outdoor season with a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on the first day of the Victor Lopez Classic, on the campus of Rice University on Friday.
Sierra, the school record holder in the indoor 5,000-meters, clocked a 10:49.50 in her first event of the season to claim the victory. The mark for Sierra stands as the fourth best time in school history in the steeplechase.
Earlier in the afternoon, freshman G.J. Reyna and sophomore Maddie Brown picked up top-5 finishes in the men's and women's 1,500-meters respectively, when Reyna ran 4:00.00 to finish third and Brown posted a 4:47.30 to finish fourth in the early sections. Reyna and Brown were two of 12 Cougars who ended the first day with new personal bests.
The day began in the field as the Cougar men and women kicked things off with the hammer throw. On the men's side Damon Thompson threw 181'0" (55.18m) to finish fifth, while freshman Mikaila Martin finished third at 170'2" (51.87m).
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.
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.
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 ().
Players Mentioned
