University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships
Damon Thompson Fifth at American Championships
5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
ORLANDO â€" A pair of hammer throwers each scored points for the Houston Cougar Men's and Women's Track & Field teams on the opening day of The American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships on Thursday, in Orlando, Fla.
Action on the first day of the championship meet began Thursday morning with the men's hammer throw. Houston qualified a pair of throwers for the final, but it was Damon Thompson who scored four big points for the Cougars when he finished fifth at 181-9 (55.39m). Jose Herrera finished ninth with a mark of 161-4 (49.18m), while Felipe Valencia (155-10, 47.51m) and Alejandro Garza (145-1, 44.23m) finished 11th and 15th respectively.
The women's hammer throw immediately followed the men, and it was freshman Mikaila Martin who scored for the women. Martin qualified for the finals after just her first throw of the event, and on her initial throw of the final round, she launched a throw of 175-5 (53.47m) to finish seventh. Freshman Taylor Scaife placed 12th with a mark of 166-0 (50.61m).
Three Cougar men were in action for the first five events of the men's decathlon on Thursday, where the competitors completed the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter dash. Chris Morales finished second in the 400m in 50.58 en route to sitting fourth through the first five events at 3,340 points. Freshman Sebastian Russi will enter the second half of the decathlon in seventh place with 3,209 points, while Emiliano Troitino sits eighth with 3,035 points.
Sophomore Maddie Brown brought the first day of action to a close for Houston with a top-10 finish in the women's 10,000-meter run. Brown finished the meet's longest race in 37:25.84 to finish 10th.
UP NEXT FOR HOUSTON
Action on Friday kicks off with the men's discus at 9 a.m., and the women's discus follows later in the afternoon. The women's pole vault will be the final field event of the day at 9:30 a.m. The multi events will conclude on the second day of the meet with the final three events of the heptathlon beginning at 11 a.m., and the last five events of the decathlon to start at 10:30 a.m. The preliminary rounds of the men's and women's 800-meters, 400-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash will all run on Friday.
The finals of six more field events will be held on Saturday, beginning with the men's pole vault at 11:30 a.m. Field events will run throughout the afternoon, ending with the men's high jump at 5 p.m. The preliminary heats of the 1,500-meter run will kick off Saturday's running events at 6 p.m., and the 100/110-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash and 100-meter dash will see both the men's and women's qualifying rounds. The finals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase will end Saturday's festivities with the women running at 8 p.m., and the men following immediately after.
The final day of The American Championships gets underway with the men's and women's triple jump at 1:30 p.m. The men's and women's shot jump, as well as the women's high jump will conclude field action on Sunday. The fourth day will also feature the finals of the remaining running events beginning with the 4x100-meter relay at 4:30 p.m., and rolling through the 4x400-meter relay, which is scheduled to start at 7:50 p.m.
The meet schedule can be found in its entirety by clicking HERE.
The Houston men have already claimed the American Indoor Championships in 2016, and will look to improve on a third place finish from last season's outdoor meet where they scored 124.5 points. The women are prime to better their seventh place finish from a year ago where they scored 63 points at the event in Storrs, Conn.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The Houston men bring a loaded field into the conference championships, where they will look to score big in the sprints. Cameron Burrell and LeShon Collins both hold the top times in the conference in each of the 100 and 200-meter dashes respectively, while the Cougars also hold the top-3 spots in each. Houston currently has 12 individuals inside the top-8 of each the 100 and 200.
The Cougars also hold the top times in each of the 800-meters, the 5,000-meters and the 10,000-meters. Freshman Brian Bell holds the top spot in the middle distance race, while Chris Ibarra will also look to score, and Brian Barraza holds the top time in each of the 5K and 10K events.
The hurdle trio will look to cap what has been an incredible season so far, as they enter the championship meet holding the top three spots in the 110-meter hurdles. Senior Issac Williams leads the way with the top overall time, while freshmen Marcus McWilliams and Amere Lattin sit second and third respectively. Lattin and fellow freshman Raymund Clarke will also look to score points in the 400-meter hurdles.
The Cougar men begin action this weekend with the top times in the conference in each of the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays. Houston's best time of 39.14 in the 4x1 is more than a second and a half faster than second place, while the 4x4 time is nearly three seconds faster than the runner up.
Burrell and Felipe Valencia enter the competition as the top-ranked competitor in each of their respective field events. Burrell controls the lead in the men's long jump, while Valencia has been the conference's top athlete in the shot put all season. Junior Alex Garza also looks to score in the shot put after entering with the second best mark among conference athletes.
On the women's side, Selena Sierra projects to be Houston's top scorer as she enters the championships ranked second in the conference in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Each of Houston's 4x1 and 4x4 relay teams enter with the second overall times as well.
In the sprints, Tori Williams and Kelli Hardnett will each look to score in multiple events. Williams enters with the fourth best 200m time as well as the seventh best 100m mark, while Hardnett enters ranked third in the 200 and fourth in the 400-meters. Bria Carter (sixth, 800m) and Mayorca Young (eighth, 400m) are also primed to score in the sprints.
Three different jumpers enter competition in position to score for Houston's women. Diayja Sheppard enters with the third best high jump mark of the season, while triple jumpers Tonyecia Burks and Felicienne Axel enter with the third and fifth best marks respectively.
Also in the women's field events, Nora Monie will be in action with the fifth best mark in the discus, while Mikaila Martin holds the seventh best mark in the hammer throw, after breaking the school record at the Tom Tellez Invitational last weekend.
AMERICAN DIGITAL NETWORK COVERAGE
All four days of The American Outdoor Championships will be streamed live and free of charge, via The American Digital Network. The stream is available on all desktop, tablet and mobile devices as well as Roku.
Each day of the event can be found by clicking the appropriate link here:
Friday | Saturday | Sunday
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
TheAmerican.org/OTF will serve as the hub for all of The American Outdoor Championship action. The hub contains links to the championship schedule, the live stream, men's and women's heat sheets, live results and more.
The Championship Hub can be accessed by visiting TheAmerican.org and following the appropriate links, or 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
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
