University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Host Leonard Hilton Invitational
1/12/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
HOUSTON â€" After a month off of competition, the Houston Cougar Men's and Women's Track & Field teams return to action when they host the Leonard Hilton Invitational on Friday inside Yeoman Fieldhouse.
ABOUT THE LEONARD HILTON INVITATIONAL
Where: Yeoman Fieldhouse | Houston, Texas | Jan. 13 | Field: 11 a.m. | Running: 1 p.m.
Teams Competing: Houston, Rice, Nicholls, Texas Southern, UT-Tyler, Trinity (Tex.), Texas Wesleyan
Meet Information
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Eight Cougars are scheduled to make their collegiate debuts on Friday, including multi-event athlete Nate Mechler. Mechler qualified for the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in the decathlon for team Canada, and is the Canadian junior record holder in the event. The Kitchener, Ontario, native is scheduled to compete in the shot put and the pole vault.
Friday also marks the return to the track for senior Cameron Burrell, who only competed in the long jump at the Reveille Invitational. Burrell is scheduled to run in the 60-meter dash for the first time since finishing runner up by one one-hundredth of a second at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2016. Burrell recently received votes for the prestigious Bowerman Award Watch List.
Houston will have 12 true-freshmen competing for the women in the track and field events this weekend. Samiyah Samuels makes her debut on the straight-track for Houston after winning the long jump at the Reveille Invitational in December. Samuels was a member of Team USA at the IAAF U20 World Junior Championships last summer and qualified for the United States Olympic Trials as a senior in high school.
The Cougars enter competition this weekend with six student-athletes inside the top-10 in the nation among their respective events. Sophomore Amere Lattin enters the 60-meter hurdles competition with the fifth fastest time this season, while sophomore Mario Burke enters the 60-meter dash with the ninth best mark. In the field, Haley Houston picked up the eighth best height in the nation in the pole vault at the Reveille Invitational. Burrell (7th, long jump) and senior Tori Williams (10th, 200-meters) will be in action in separate events, while senior Brian Barraza holds the No. 1 indoor mile time in the world this season, but is not scheduled to be in action.
A full list of events and scheduled competitors as well as heat sheets can be found by clicking HERE.
FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
Live results for the Leonard Hilton Invitational will be made available courtesy of Flash Results Texas. Fans can find results by visiting FlashResultsTexas.com or by clicking HERE.
ABOUT THE 2016-17 COUGARS
The Houston men return 93 of their 152 points from last year's American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship team, including NCAA Runner-Up and American Champion in the 60-meter dash Cameron Burrell. Also returning for Houston will be thrower Felipe Valencia, who took the indoor championship in the shot put a year ago.
For the women, 17 freshmen will look to play their part in improving on the team's ninth-place finish from a year ago. A young squad, the women will have just six seniors for the indoor slate, including 2016 American Champion in the outdoor steeplechase Selena Sierra.
UP NEXT FOR HOUSTON
Houston will also play host to the Carl Lewis High School Invitational and the Joe Deloach Youth Meet this weekend. The high school event will be held Saturday beginning at 8:30 a.m., while the children's meet will run at 9 a.m., Sunday.
The team will be back in competition at the Mark Colligan Memorial, in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Jan. 21.
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 & Field team has established its own official Facebook (facebook.com/HoustonCougarTrackandField) and Twitter pages ().
Players Mentioned
