Cougars to Host American Conference Championships

5/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field

May 10, 2017

HOUSTON Ã¢â‚¬" The regular season is in the books and the Houston Cougar Men's and Women's Track & Field teams welcome the American Athletic Conference Championships, to be held May 12-14, to the Carl Lewis Complex.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 12-14 | Carl Lewis Complex | Houston, Texas
Championship Central | Meet Schedule | Live Results

AMERICAN OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Fans have the option of purchasing a 3-day pass beginning at $10 for adults and $6 for seniors/youth, or buying tickets for each individual day at $6 for adults and $3 for seniors/youth.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting UHCougars.com/tickets or clicking HERE, or by calling 713-GO-COOGS (713-462-6647).

COUGARS IN CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

Houston hosts an outdoor conference championship for the first time since 2003-04, and its first since joining the American Athletic Conference.
The Cougar men have won 14 outdoor conference championships including the 2016 American contest in Orlando.
The Cougar women are in search of their first title since 2006 and have won eight previous outdoor titles.
Head Coach Leroy Burrell has won 16 outdoor conference championships (11 men, five women) during his tenure and 32 overall after claiming the men's indoor title in February.
The Houston men will look to sweep the indoor and outdoor titles for the second consecutive season and 10th time in program history.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Houston will look to score big points in the sprints, particularly in the men's 100- and 200-meter dashes. Entering the competition, Houston has six men's athletes ranked among the top-8 in the 100, while five hold the same rank in the 200. Junior Eli Hall holds the top time in the straight-track this season after running 10.00 at the Penn Relays, while Jacarias Martin's 20.75 in the 200 is the conference's top mark.

Sophomores Mario Burke and John Lewis III also each rank among the top-8 in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Senior Tori Williams and freshman Sierra Smith each rank among the top-8 in the 100 and 200 for the women. Williams and Smith rank No. 7 (11.50) and No. 8 (11.52), respectively, in the 100-meter dash, while in the 200, Williams holds the conference's No. 2 time at 23.18, and Smith ranks seventh at 23.84. Freshman Brian Bethel holds the No. 5 time in The American in the 200 at 23.47.

Freshman Birexus Hawkins will hope to pick up crucial points for the Cougars in both the 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles. Hawkins enters ranked No. 1 in the conference in the sprint event with a time of 54.07, while ranking No. 3 in the hurdles at 59.99. On the men's side, sophomore Raymund Clarke will also double up in the events, holding the No. 2 time in both the dash and the hurdles at 47.11 and 52.16, respectively.

Also in the hurdles, sophomore Amere Lattin will try to defend his crowns after winning both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles at the 2016 outdoor championships. Lattin enters the weekend with each of the top times in the competition at 13.73 and 51.38, respectively.

A number of Cougars are prime to score in the mid-distance and distance events for Houston at the championship meet, including defending outdoor champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Selena Sierra. The school record holder in the event, Sierra enters the competition with the conference's top time this season at 10:26.41.

Chris Ibarra will look to boost the Cougars in both of the men's 800- and 1,500-meter runs. Ibarra currently ranks sixth in the 2-lap race at 1:51.35 and claimed the indoor title earlier this season, while his time in the 1,500 places him fifth. Jennifer Dunlap is currently within range for points in the women's 1,500-meters, entering with the eighth fastest time at 4:31.61.

Sunday's final day of competition on the track will begin and end with a sprint relay. Running events kick off with the 4x100-meter relay, where both the men and women enter with the top times. The Cougar men ran 38.59 at the Mt. SAC Relays, while the women's best mark of 44.23 was set at the Cougar Spring Break Invitational. Competition concludes with the 4x400-meter relay. The men's 4x400 team broke the school record at 3:04.38 at Mt. SAC, which is the top time in the conference, and the women rank fourth at 3:44.11.

The Cougars will look to gain a big advantage in the men's and women's long jumps, entering with multiple top-marks in each event. For the men, senior Antwan Dickerson holds the second best mark in the long jump at 24-9.0 (7.54m), while junior Jared Kerr has battled back from injury and enters fourth at 24-4.25 (7.42m).

On the women's side, Tonye'cia Burks enters with The American's top mark at 21-0.5 (6.41m), while freshman Samiyah Samuels ranks second at 20-6.25 (6.25m) and Paige Lawrence sits fifth. Burks also holds the top mark in the women's triple jump after breaking the school record and leaping 44-4.75 (13.53m).

The men's shot put may prove to be the most exciting competition of the weekend when the athletes take the ring on Saturday. Six separate athletes in the event hold personal records longer than 18 meters, while junior Cameron Cornelius holds the top mark at 61-11.5 (18.88m) and senior Alex Garza ranks third at 59-2.0 (18.03m).

Houston will also look to earn valuable points in each of the men's and women's hammer throw and discus competitions. Senior Damon Thompson holds the conference's second-best mark in the men's hammer this season at 198-0.0 (60.36m), while sophomore Mikaila Martin enters with a school-record 190-8.0 (58.11m) to rank fifth for the women. In the women's discus sophomore Nora Monie threw 164-4 (50.10m) at the Penn Relays to log the No. 2 mark in the conference, while on the men's side junior Zach Oliva's 168-4 (51.32m) ranks seventh.

Freshman Nathaniel Mechler looks to make it an even sweep of the men's multi-event competitions at American Championships this season, when he enters the decathlon on Friday and Saturday. Mechler won the indoor heptathlon at the championships in February and enters ranked second in the conference in the decathlon after scoring 7,255 points at the Texas Relays in March.

Senior Christopher Morales will also look to score points in the men's decathlon, while taking part in several other individual events. Morales currently ranks No. 8 in the league in the javelin (172-10) and the pole vault (15-7.75m). Sophomore Colin George will be in search of big points in the jumps, entering ranked No. 3 in the high jump with a top-mark of 6-8.75 (2.05m).

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