University of Houston Athletics
Mario Burke Qualifies for U20 Semifinals
7/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
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Bydgoszcz, Poland -- Freshman sprinter Mario Burke opened the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships by qualifying for the semifinals of the 100-meter dash, while Nathaniel Mechler and Klara Mattson were also in action at Zawisza Stadium on Tuesday.
Running in the sixth and final heat of the first round of the 100, Burke crossed the line first in 10.33 to earn an automatic qualifying position into the semifinals. Burke enters the next round with the sixth fastest overall qualifying time and will run at 12:20 p.m. (CT), on Wednesday. Burke will compete in heat one of the semifinals where the top-2 from each of the three heats plus the next two fastest times will earn a chance to compete in the finals at 2:35 p.m.
The Bridgetown, Barbados, native will also run Thursday in the 200-meters, where he enters ranked 14th among competitors with a best of 20.87. Burke's fastest time in the event this season came at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships where he finished third. The semifinals for the 200 will follow on at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, with the finals the following day at 2:30 p.m.
Mechler's day began with the first event of the meet, the decathlon 100-meter dash. Mechler finished eighth overall in the 100 at 11.11 before following that with an eighth-place finish in the long jump after a mark of 23-0.0 (7.01m). Mechler opened the afternoon session with a mark of 6-6.0 (1.98m) in the high jump to move into 13th. Mechler caught a tough break in the final event of the day, the 400-meter dash, when he received a disqualification after running the only sub-48 second mark of all competitors.
Mechler finished the first day with 3,062 points and will complete the grueling 2-day decathlon on Wednesday with the remaining five events (110-meter hurdles, discus, hammer throw, javelin, 1500-meters). He owns a personal best of 7,592 points in the decathlon, which set the Canadian U20 record at the Capital Cup in June.
The final Cougar in action on Tuesday was Mattson, who competed in the qualifying round of the pole vault for Sweden. She tied her personal best mark of 13-7.25 (4.15m) to earn the 12th and final qualifying position. Mattson matched the height of nine other vaulters in the competition, but cleared on her final attempt, while others cleared on earlier attempts. The finals of the pole vault will be held at 11:25 a.m., Thursday.
Also on Thursday, Amere Lattin opens the running events at 2:55 a.m., when he competes in the first round of the 110-meter hurdles. Lattin originally qualified for the 110 and 400-meter hurdles but pulled out of the 400 hurdles to focus on one event, and possibly compete in either the 4x100- or 4x400-meter relay. The American Athletic Conference Champion in each of the hurdle events enters with the No. 2 time among competitors in the 110 hurdles after running 13.32 and finishing second at the USATF Junior Championships in June. If Lattin qualifies, the semifinals of the event will be held later that day at 11:10 a.m., with the finals taking place the following day at 2 p.m.
Cecilia Tamayo will also be in action on Wednesday as she begins the first of her two events with the first round of the women's 100-meter dash at 5:35 a.m., and the semifinals and finals to follow at 11:05 a.m., and 2:20 p.m., respectively on Thursday. Tamayo enters with the 24th best time among competitors at 11.65 (12th, 2015 Mt. SAC Relays) while entering as Mexico's top athlete in the event.
Tamayo set her top mark in the 200-meter dash at Ciudad de Mexico in March, when she ran 23.90. Competing as one of just seven Mexican women at the U20 Championships, Tamayo enters the event ranked No. 30 among competitors and opens the event at 5 a.m., Friday. The semifinals of the 200 will follow at 2 p.m., while the finals will be held at 11:10 a.m., Saturday.
Samiyah Samuels will be in action for Team USA at 2:40 a.m., Thursday for the first round of the women's long jump. Samuels enters with a personal best of 21-3.25 (6.48m), which set the meet and stadium (The Armory; New York, N.Y.) high school records at the 2016 New Balance Indoor Nationals on March 12. Her mark is tied for third among competitors in the event and is just one one-hundredth of a meter off the top mark. The finals of the long jump will be held at 12:25 p.m., Friday.
Brian Bell will be the final Cougar on the track as he represents Team USA in the first round of the 800-meters at 3:25 a.m., Friday. The school record holder in each of the indoor and outdoor 800 set his top mark of 1:47.17 at the USATF Junior Championships in June and is ranked No. 11 in the event. The 800 will span three days, with the semifinals running at 10:45 p.m., Saturday and the finals at 10:10 a.m., Sunday.
In total, 1,512 athletes will represent 157 different countries at the IAAF World U20 Championships with each athlete qualifying by meeting a minimum mark in their respective events and being one of the top-2 under-20 athletes in their country.
FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
Live results of the 2016 IAAF U20 Championships will be made available courtesy of the organizations home website IAAF.org. Results can be found be visiting the website and following the appropriate links to the results, or by clicking HERE.
The IAAF will also hold a live radio broadcast of the World U20 Championships, covering the afternoon sessions of each day. The live broadcast can be found by clicking HERE. The broadcast schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, July 20 -- 11 a.m. -- 2:45 p.m.
Thursday, July 21 -- 11 a.m.-2:45 p.m.
Friday, July 22 -- 11 a.m.-2:45 p.m.
Saturday, July 23 -- 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sunday, July 24 -- 9 a.m.-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.
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