University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Wrap U.S. Trials Opening Weekend
7/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Eugene, Ore. -- Three current Houston Cougar track & field student-athletes, and one signee of the 2016-17 recruiting class competed among the nation's top athletes on the opening weekend of the United States Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Houston opened Saturday's competition with Jack Thomas on the runway for the men's javelin. Thomas missed the 2016 season due to redshirt, but was competing unattached at the trials after meeting the standard mark at the Texas Throwers Invitational on June 18. Thomas finished the event 20th after throwing 213-8 (65.14m) on his opening throw.
Two Cougars began the track portion of the trials, when senior LeShon Collins and sophomore Cameron Burrell competed in the first round of the 100-meter dash. Running in the fourth heat, Burrell finished in 10.18, just two-hundredths of a second slower than his NCAA Outdoor Championship time on the same track during the outdoor season, to finish 25th. Collins competed in heat three where he ran 10.41to finish 31st overall. Collins will be in action again at 7:30 p.m., Thursday July 7 in the 200-meter dash.
Incoming freshman Samiyah Samuels competed on the opening day of the trials in the women's long jump. Samuels, who will be a freshman for the Cougars next season and was impressive on the national stage after collecting a top mark of 20-3.75 (6.19m) to finish 17th. The leap for Samuels would have given her the second best mark in The American Athletic Conference this season.
Houston alumnus Chris Carter will also be in competition on July 7 with the opening round of the men's triple jump at 6:45 p.m. The finals of the event will be held two days later at 6:15 p.m., July 9. Carter reached the qualifying standard of 54-8 (16.66m) at the AA Drink FBK-Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, where he jumped 56-2 (17.12m) to win the event. Carter enters the trials ranked No. 5 in the United States and No. 9 in the world in the triple jump.
Senior Issac Williams will be the last Cougar to step on the track, running in the first round of the 110-meter hurdles at 5:02p.m., Friday, July 8. The semifinals and finals will be held the next day at 6:25 and 7:52 p.m., respectively. Williams bettered the qualifying mark of 13.57 when he ran 13.43 at the Mt. SAC Relays this season, ranking him No. 10 in the United States and 33rd in the world.
The top-3 athletes finishing in the finals of each event who also meet the Olympic standards will qualify for the XXXI Olympic Games and book their trip to Rio de Janeiro from August 5-21. Carter, Collins and Williams have met the qualifying marks for their remaining events entering competition. Track and Field, known as athletics in the Olympic world, has been a part of the Games since 1896 and offers 141 total medals, more than any other sport at the Olympics.
FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
Live results for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials will be provided live via Flash Results. Results can be found by visiting FlashResults.com and following the appropriate links, or by clicking HERE.
Live video of the U.S. Trials will be provided via USATF.TV and NBCSports.com. For the USATF broadcast fans can click HERE, while the NBC Sports Broadcast can be found at this LINK.
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
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Players Mentioned
