University of Houston Athletics
Brian Barraza Named Athlete of the Week
5/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Providence, R.I. â€" For the third time this season, junior distance runner Brian Barraza has been named the American Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday, after his impressive performance at the Penn Relays last weekend.
Barraza was in action on the first day of the 122nd edition of the event where he ran the 5,000-meters. Already the school record holder in the event, Barraza would set a new program best mark when he crossed the line in 13:52.52 earning Houston its first individual championship at the Penn Relays since Sam Jefferson won the 100-meter dash in 1993.
Barraza is currently the owner of four Houston Track & Field distance records including both the indoor and outdoor 5,000-meters, the indoor 3000-meters and the 10,000-meter record which he broke earlier this season.
Barraza's award is the ninth of the outdoor season, and his third of the year after claiming the honor once during the indoor season and again after breaking the 10K record earlier during the outdoor slate.
Sophomore Cameron Burrell, and seniors Issac Williams and LeShon Collins have also won multiple American Athletic Conference Track Athlete of the Week honors this season, with Burrell claiming last week's prize and also earning the award on Jan. 19 during the indoor season. Like Barraza, Williams has also won the award three times (April 26, Feb. 2, and Feb 23), while Collins won the award twice, once on March 29 and again on April 12.
Selena Sierra also claimed the award on March 29 for a tremendous performance in the 3000-meter steeplechase, making her the first Houston women's athlete to win the award this season.
Felipe Valencia garnered Houston's first American Conference Field Athlete of the Week Award on April 26, while freshman Mario Burke opened the outdoor season by claiming the track award following the UTSA Invitational. Houston has now won 13 athlete of the week awards this season, including 11 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 returns home to host the Tom Tellez Invitational on Friday, Feb. 6, which will serve as the Cougars' final tune up match before heading to the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships in Orlando, Fla., from May 12-15.
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
