University of Houston Athletics
Bell Reaches 800m Final at U20 Worlds
7/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Live Results | Live Radio | Facts & Figures | Entries By Event | Entries By Country
Bydgoszcz, Poland -- The week of success continues for the Houston Cougar Track & Field team at the IAAF World U20 Championships, as freshman middle-distance runner Brian Bell reached the 800-meter final on Saturday.
Bell qualified for Saturday's semifinal race after posting the 23rd fastest time in the preliminary rounds with a time of 1:50.97 and earning the automatic qualifying position. Competing for Team USA, Bell was on the track in Heat 1 of the semifinal where he finished fourth in his heat in 1:47.49. After sweating out the final two heats, Bell qualified on time, with the sixth fastest overall mark heading into the final. He will close out competition for the Cougars at 10:10 a.m., Sunday.
Bell became the fifth Cougar to reach the finals in six events with his qualification on Saturday. On Wednesday, freshman sprinter Mario Burke claimed Barbados' first-ever medal in the U20 Championships with his bronze in the 100-meter dash, while hurdler Amere Lattin took silver for Team USA in the 110-meter hurdles on Thursday, before helping the 4x100-meter relay team qualify for the finals on Friday. Incoming freshmen Samiyah Samuels (Team USA) and Klara Mattson (Team Sweden) reached the finals in the long jump and pole vault respectively.
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. Sunday's broadcast will air live from 9 a.m., until 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.
FOLLOW THE COUGARS
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Players Mentioned
