University of Houston Athletics
Cameron Burrell Named Athlete of the Week
4/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Providence, R.I. â€" For the second time this season, sophomore sprinter Cameron Burrell has been named the American Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday, after his impressive performance at the Yokubaitis Invitational.
Houston hosted their first outdoor meet in eight seasons last weekend, and Burrell put on a show from the start, kicking off running events as the anchor leg in the men's 4x100-meter relay. Burrell was part of a squad that ran 39.19 to win the event and set a new stadium record, beating the old mark of 39.57 set by Houston in 2005.
The Houston native would step on the track two more times on Saturday and claim victories in each event at the Yokubaitis Invitational. In the 100-meter dash, Burrell ran a 10.60 into a 1.9 m/s headwind to take first by more than a tenth of a second.
The former Ridge Point High School standout would then run the 200-meters for the first time this outdoor season, going sub-21 seconds to post a 20.79. Burrell's time was enough to win the event and rank him No. 39 on the NCAA list this season.
For Houston, Burrell's award is the eighth of the outdoor season, and his second this year after claiming the honor on Jan. 19, during the indoor slate. Issac Williams claimed Houston's fourth straight outdoor track award last week (and his third this season: Feb. 2 and Feb. 23), while Felipe Valencia picked up the Cougars' first field award of the year.
Senior LeShon Collins has claimed the award twice this season after being honored on April 12 and March 29. Senior Selena Sierra was also named female track athlete of the week on March 29, giving Houston its first women's award this season.
Junior Brian Barraza has also earned the award twice this season, once during indoor and again after breaking the 56-year old 10,000-meter record on April 5.
Freshman Mario Burke opened the outdoor campaign by claiming the honor following the UTSA Invitational, and the Cougars have now won 12 athlete of the week awards this season including 10 American Male Track Athlete of the Week honors.
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.
UP NEXT FOR HOUSTON
Houston heads northeast for the 122nd running of the historic Penn Relays. The event will be held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa., Thursday, April 28 through Saturday, April 30.
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Players Mentioned
