University of Houston Athletics
Houston Split Squad Weekend Meets
4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
HOUSTON â€" As the 2018 outdoor season speeds past the halfway point, the Houston Cougar Men's and Women's Track & Field teams head west to compete in the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays across April 19-21, while other student-athletes will compete in the J. Fred Duckett Twilight Invitational at Rice.
ABOU T THE MT. SAC RELAYS
The 2018 Mt. SAC Relays will be held at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif., while construction continues on historic Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College.
The 3-day meet kicks off Thursday at 12:30 p.m. CT, with the men's collegiate open hammer throw, while running events are slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. CT, with the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Friday's action will also start at 12:30 p.m. CT, with the women's collegiate open 1,500-meter run, while field events get underway at 2 p.m. CT, with the men's collegiate open long jump.
The final day of competition sees a later start, with field events opening action at 3 p.m. CT, with the elite invitational long jump, while the 4x100-meter relays open the final running slate at 3:10 p.m. CT.
A full schedule of events for the Mt. SAC Relays can be found by clicking HERE.
ABOUT THE J. FRED DUCKETT TWILIGHT INVITATIONAL
Rice's second home meet of the season will be a one-day event, held on Saturday, April 21. Action starts in the field at 10 a.m. CT, with the men's discus, while the afternoon running session kicks off with the women's 100-meter hurdles at 3 p.m. CT. The evening running session starts with the women's 4x100-meter relay at 6 p.m.
The meet schedule for the J. Fred Duckett Twilight Invitational can be found by clicking HERE.
WHAT TO WATCH
On the track, the meet will open with senior Brian Barraza's return to the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the first time since breaking the school record early in the season. Barraza ran 8:41.58 at the Victor Lopez Classic to set the program mark and post the third-fastest time in the country this season.
Houston will send a loaded sprint crew to the West Coast, with five different ranked student-athletes competing throughout the weekend. John Lewis III enters the 100-meter dash with the nation's 10th-best time this season at 10.13, while Mario Burke holds the 26th-best mark at 10.28.
On the women's side of the 100, Brianne Bethel enters the invitational event 40th in the country with a season-best time of 11.42, while her time in the 200-meter dash places her 29th in the outdoor circuit.
Elijah Hall is scheduled to return to action at the Mt. SAC Relays, where he will begin the weekend with the third-fastest time this season in the 200 at 20.11, while in the 400-meter dash, Kahmari Montgomery will look to improve on the 63rd-best time this season of 47.10.
Houston's hurdlers will be well-represented on each of the men's and women's side. Amere Lattin enters the 110-meter hurdles with the NCAA's No. 9 mark of 13.72, while also holding the fourth-best time this season in the 400-meter hurdles at 50.29. Freshman Quivell Jordan will also run the full-lap hurdle race, entering with a season-best time of 51.11 to sit 16th in the country.
In the women's straight-track hurdle race, Naomi Taylor enters with the 39th-best time in the NCAA this season. Taylor's season-best in the 100-meter hurdles came at the Victor Lopez Classic, where she ran 13.45.
Houston's jumpers will also make the trip out west, including Samiyah Samuels, who enters competition with the 17th-best mark in the women's long jump this season at 20-7.75 (6.29m). On the men's side, Antwan Dickerson holds the No. 20 mark in the NCAA at 25-5.25 (7.75m), while Jared Kerr ranks 44th (24-11.25; 7.60m) and Trumaine Jefferson sits 56th (24-8.5; 7.53m).
Tonye'cia Burks rounds out competition in the horizontal jumps in the triple jump. Burks enters 36th in the country with a top mark this season of 41-10.5 (12.76m).
Houston will look to continue a strong season in the ring this weekend, with nationally ranked athletes in the hammer throw, discus and shot put competitions. Fresh off breaking her own school record in the hammer throw for the third time this season, Taylor Scaife enters competition with the 15th-best throw this season at 204-7 (62.37m).
In the shot put, Nora Monie currently ranks 40th in the nation with a mark of 51-5.75 (15.69m), while freshman Priscilla Adejokun sits 58th at 50-4.0 (15.34m). On the men's side, Felipe Valencia holds the 42nd-best mark in the shot put this season at 59-4.75 (18.10m), while Cameron Cornelius' season best of 57-2.0 (17.42m) ranks 75th.
Monie will also throw the discus this weekend, entering the competition 50th in the NCAA with a top mark of 170-4 (51.91m) in 2018.
Houston will once again look to impress in the relay events, where they will enter two squads into the men's 4x100-meter relay. The Cougars are the only team in the NCAA this season to have two different teams post top-5 times nationally, with one team of Lewis III, Hall, Nicholas Alexander and Cameron Burrell running 38.92, while a separate team of Burke, Burrell, Lewis III and Hall have also run 38.95.
The men's 4x400-meter relay team enters with the 26th-best time this season at 3:07.81, while the women's team ranks 60th in the 4x1 and 79th in the 4x4.
Jack Thomas will be in action for the Cougars on Friday, however he will throw the javelin at the nearby Long Beach State Invitational. Thomas holds the seventh-best mark in the javelin this season at 234-10 (71.58m).
Live results will be made available for each of Houston's meets this weekend. Mt. SAC Results can be found by clicking HERE, while Rice results are HERE and Long Beach State results are HERE.
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Players Mentioned
