University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Mt. SAC Relays
Hurdles, Sprints Shine at Mt. SAC Relays
4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Walnut, Calif. -- The Houston Cougar men's and women's track and field teams wrapped up an impressive first day at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays on Friday, in Walnut, Calif.
Competing among the nation's and world's bests at one of the most famous track meets in the world, it was a pair of Cougar hurdlers who stole the show early in the day. Running in the 110-meter hurdles in the collegiate/open division, freshmen Marcus McWilliams and Amere Lattin would finish second and fourth respectively to set the tone early. McWilliams went sub-14 with a 13.97, while Lattin finished right behind him at 14.11.
Later on the track, the Cougars would pick up another pair of top-10 finishes, this time with the sprinters in the men's 100-meter dash. Senior LeShon Collins continued his impressive outdoor campaign with a wind-aided 10.29 to finish fourth, while freshman Mario Burke ran a personal best, wind-aided 10.33 to take seventh.
In the women's sprints, the Cougars picked up a couple of personal bests from junior Bria Carter and senior Mandy Nolan. Carter ran the 100 in a wind-aided 11.58 to just nip her previous best, while Nolan clocked a 24.72 in the 200-meter dash to set a new top mark.
For the second consecutive week, it was freshman Jacarias Martin showing the blazing speed on the 200m track. Martin improved on his previous best, set last week, when he ran a wind-aided 20.84 to finish 10th overall and seventh among collegiate competitors. Martin's time moves him to No. 22 on the NCAA qualifying list this season.
In the throws, it was junior Alex Garza who continued his strong first campaign with the Cougars when he finished third in the men's shot put. Garza threw the shot 52'11.5" (16.15m), missing out on second place by just 3-quarters of an inch.
Freshman Nora Monie tallied another top-10 finish for the Cougar throwers when she finished eighth in the women's discus. Monie logged a top throw of 144'4" (43.99m) to claim her spot. On Friday, fellow freshman Mikaila Martin improved on her already second best throw in school history when she set a personal best in the hammer throw at 171'7" (52.31m) to finish 11th.
Two Houston jumpers wrapped up Friday's competition with top-10 finishes when Tonyecia Burks and Felicienne Axel competed in the triple jump. Burks jumped 40'08.25" (12.40m) to finish fourth, while Axel set a new personal best with a wind-aided 39'8.0" (12.09m) leap to finish ninth.
WHO TO WATCH
Houston will have another shot to impress in the hurdles when senior Issac Williams competes with the seventh fastest time in the NCAA in the elite division of the 110-meter hurdles on Saturday.
The field events will feature a number of ranked Cougars, highlighted by Cameron Burrell in the long jump, who enters competition with the 26th best mark in the nation at 24'10.5" (7.58m).
In the throws, Felipe Valencia will look to improve on the nation's 39th best mark in the shot put when he competes on Saturday. The sophomore set his top mark of the season of 59'3.5" (18.07m) at the Texas Relays
Perhaps the most exciting show of the weekend however, will come when the men's 4x100-meter relay teams step on the track. This season, the Cougars have four different 4x1 teams ranked within the top-25, and eight within the top-70. The Cougars will send three 4x1 teams into competition this weekend. The women will send their No. 44 ranked 4x1 team into action as well on Saturday, along with the 65th best 4x400-meter relay team in the country. The men's 4x4 team will also compete, entering the meet with the no. 57 ranked team in the NCAA.
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
