University of Houston Athletics
Brian Barraza Smashes 10,000 Meter Record
4/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
HOUSTON â€" The Houston Cougar track and field program's longest standing record has fallen, as junior distance runner Brian Barraza broke the school 10,000-meter record at the Stanford Invitational on Friday, while Cougars also competed at the Texas Relays, the Bobcat Invitational and San Francisco State Distance Carnival.
Competing in Palo Alto, California, Barraza put on a show that Cougar track and field has never seen before in the meet's final event of the night, where he finished the 10K in 29:04.11 to finish fourth among collegiate athletes and 12th overall. The mark for Barraza breaks the great Al Lawrence's record of 29:36.40, set in 1960 by over a half minute.
Meanwhile, the day started with a bang at the Texas Relays, as the Cougar men's 4x100-meter relay team wasted no time qualifying for Saturday's finals in the first event of the day. After enduring a lengthy rain delay before action could really get under way, the team of LeShon Collins, Jacarias Martin, Gerald Mills and Cameron Burrell ran 40.7n6 to qualify with the eighth fastest time in the prelims. The Cougars will run in the finals at 1:30 p.m., Saturday.
The women's 4x100 relay finished just outside the cut for qualifiers with an 11th place finish in 45.81.
After another rain delay in Austin, the second day of the Texas Relays were underway for good, and a trio of Cougar hurdlers brought the action back to the track in a huge way. Running in three separate heats, senior Issac Williams and freshmen Marcus McWilliams and Amere Lattin would all qualify for Saturday's final, meaning Cougars would make up one-third of the 9-person final. Williams (13.97w) and McWilliams (14.01) won their respective heats and qualified third and fourth respectively, while Lattin clocked 14.19 to finish the prelims with the eighth fastest time.
Houston would pick up its fourth individual finals qualifier just minutes later with Collins running in the 100-meter dash. Collins crossed the line in 10.45 to finish tied for the seventh fastest time heading into the finals. John Lewis ran a wind-aided 10.49 to finish 11th.
Houston ended Friday's running events at the Texas Relays with another qualification, this time in the women's 4x400-meter relay. The team of Kelli Hardnett, Mayorca Young, Ebony White and Mandy Nolan clocked 3:47.43 to qualify in the ninth spot.
The men's 4x400m team missed the qualifying cut by just .27 seconds when they ran 3:13.49 to finish just behind Utah State in 10th.
Houston had a good day in the field events at the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Texas State. Damon Thompson was the Cougars top finisher on the day in the hammer throw with a mark of 188'-6" (57.45m) to finish fourth.
Houston got a pair of personal best from freshmen Felicienne Axel in the long jump, and Taylor Scaife in the hammer throw. Axel jumped 18'-3.75" (5.58m) to finish 10th, while Scaife finished 13th at 156'-2" (47.59m).
The remainder of Cougar distance runners competing this week traveled to the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. Sophomore Maddie Brown opened competition with a personal best 36:26.74 to finish 15th in the 10,000-meter run.
Later in the evening, freshman Jahnavi Schneider improved on her 1,500m personal best when she ran 4:38.73, while freshman G.J. Reyna improved his top time in the same event running sub-4 at 3:57.60.
FINAL DAY COVERAGE
Saturday will see an action packed slate of running as the finals of the remaining events of the Texas Relays will be held throughout the day beginning at noon running through the 4x400-meter relay finals beginning at 4:05 p.m. The finals of the field events are scheduled to begin at noon with the pole vault.
The javelin begins Saturday's Bobcat Invitational competition at 9 a.m., followed by the pole vault, triple jump and shot put. The 4x100-meter relay kicks off the final day of running events at 2 p.m., and runs through the 4x400-meter relay at 4:45 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
Live results will be made available for each meet as well as a live video feed for the Texas Relays, with times still to be determined.
Live results for the Texas Relays can be found by clicking HERE, while the live video will be streamed courtesy of ESPN3 and can be found HERE. Action will also be carried live on The Longhorn Network with times to be determined at a later date.
Live results for the Bobcat Invitational can be found at the Texas State Track and Field website or by clicking HERE.
UP NEXT FOR HOUSTON
Houston heads to the Baylor Invitational on Saturday, April 9 in Waco, Texas. The 1-day event is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
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
