University of Houston Athletics
Trio of Cougars Qualify for NCAA Nationals
3/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Birmingham, Ala. -- Three members of the Houston Cougar men's track and field team have punched their ticket to nationals and will be traveling to the Birmingham CrossPlex to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, March 11 and Saturday March 12, in Birmingham, Ala.
In order to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships, athletes had to finish the indoor regular season ranked among the top-16 in each of their respective events. Burrell and Collins will be competing in the 60-meter dash where they finished fourth and 13th respectively, while McWilliams finished the season 12th in the 60-meter hurdles.
Both Burrell and Collins set their marks in front of their home fans at the 2016 Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational in January. Burrell won the event in 6.55 which at the time stood as the top mark in the world, while Collins finished a close second in 6.64 to set his qualifying mark.
Also competing in front of his home fans, McWilliams ran a 7.72 at the 2016 Howie Ryan Invitational to match the school record in the event, originally set by Issac Williams last season. The freshman's time was good enough for 12th this season and third among NCAA rookies.
Action for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., on Friday with the men's weight throw, and the running events will kick off at 5:30 p.m. McWilliams will run in the semifinals of the 60 hurdles at 6:10 p.m., while Burrell and Collins will follow in the 60 dash at 6:30.
Athletes that qualify for the finals will be back to compete on Saturday with the 60-meter hurdles being run at 4:25 p.m., and the 60-meter dash at 4:45 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
Each day of the NCAA Indoor Championships will be broadcast live via ESPN3 and can be found by clicking here. Coverage on the first day will begin at 5:25 p.m., while the Saturday's coverage will start at 3:55 p.m.
Live stats will also be made available courtesy of the NCAA. The results of each individual event 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
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Players Mentioned
