University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Send 19 to NCAA West Regional
5/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
HOUSTON -- With conference championships in the rearview mirror, NCAA Track & Field teams turn their sights on the NCAA Regionals, where the Houston Cougar Men's and Women's Track & Field teams qualified 19 student-athletes and four relays for the NCAA West Regional to be held Thursday, May 26 through Saturday, May 28, in Lawrence, Kan.
The NCAA is broken down into the West and East Regionals, with qualification standards allowing the top-48 individual athletes in each event to compete in their respective regions. Additionally the top-24 relays and decathlon/heptathlon athletes will also qualify for their respective regionals.
The Houston men will see 13 different athletes compete in 19 individual events, while on the women's side, six athletes will head to Lawrence to compete alongside each of the men's and women's 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays. The Cougar men were matched only be UConn in number of athletes qualified, however the Cougars will compete in six more events than the Huskies, who will compete in the NCAA East Regional.
The Cougars will see 10 student-athletes compete in the sprints, with LeShon Collins competing in each of the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Collins holds the fourth fastest time in the 100 at 10.15, while Cameron Burrell enters ranked fifth and Mario Burke holds the 16th fastest time in the region. Bria Carter will compete for the women with the 40th best west regional time of 11.58.
Four Cougar men including Collins, Jacarias Martin, Curtis Brown and Issac Williams all punched their tickets to regionals in the 200 over the outdoor season. Collins holds the region's fastest time at 20.43, while Martin is 21st at 20.84, and Brown and Williams are 37th and 38th at 21.05 and 21.06 respectively.
In the women's 200, Houston will see Kelli Hardnett and Tori Williams each compete at the regional. Hardnett enters 32nd in the west at 23.50, while Tori Williams is right behind her at 23.52 to rank No. 34.
Mayorca Young rounds out the sprinters with the 400-meter dash. Young qualified with the 45th fastest time in the region this season at 54.51.
Issac Williams will be in action again for the Cougars, with teammate Amere Lattin in the 110-meter hurdles. The duo holds two of the regions' five fastest times, with Williams qualifying in second at 13.43, and Lattin sitting fifth at 13.59. Lattin will also compete twice, appearing again in the 400-meter hurdles where he enters ninth at 50.71.
In the middle distance, freshman Brian Bell will make his first regional appearance running in the 800-meters. Bell is one of four freshmen in the top-15 in the 800 with his time of 1:47.58 to rank No. 13. Brian Barraza will compete in the regional's longest distance, the 10,000-meters, after running 29:04.11 (ninth) earlier this season to break the school record.
Burrell will be in action as part of a trio of Cougars in the men's long jump that will include Trumaine Jefferson and Antwan Dickerson. Burrell's top mark of 25-7.25 (7.80m) which he used to win the American Championship last week ranks No. 12 in the region, while Jefferson sits 26th at 24-9.25 (7.55m), and Dickerson enters 46th at 23-11.5 (7.30m).
The triple jump will feature sophomore Tonyecia Burks who set her top mark this season at The American Outdoor Championships in Orlando. Burks jumped 42-1.25 (12.83m) to qualify 19th regionally.
Three Cougar throwers will also be in action during the regional, with a pair of men's shot putters and a women's hammer thrower each making the cut. American Conference runner up in the outdoor shot, Felipe Valencia holds the region's 26th best throw this season at 59-11.75 (18.28m), while Alex Garza enters with the 36th best mark at 58-5.25 (17.81m). Freshman Mikaila Martin will appear in her first regional in the hammer throw after breaking the school record with a mark of 188-7 (57.50m) to hold the 45th best mark.
The squad that could steal the show at the NCAA West Regional, could be the men's 4x100-meter relay. The men's relay team has consistently been one of the top teams in the country this season, and they enter the event as the top-rated team in the regional after running 38.95 at The American Championships last week.
The Cougar men are the only American Athletic Conference team to qualify each of their 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay teams into the regional. The 4x4 squad will enter with the 15th best time in the region at 3:07.47, a time run by four freshmen.
The Cougar women were one of just three teams in The American to get two relays in the regional. The 4x1 ran the eighth best time in the west this season at 44.22, while the 4x4 squad enters with the region's 18th best mark at 3:37.64.
ABOUT THE REGIONAL
The NCAA West Regional will be held Thursday May 26 through Saturday, May 28 in Lawrence, Kan. The 3-day event will feature first round and quarterfinal action of each of the running events, with a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the line for the top-12 qualifying individuals in each event.
Field events will feature just three attempts in first round action, and will also advance the top-12 athletes in each respective event on to the finals at the NCAA Championships.
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
