Houston Punches Eight Tickets to Eugene

5/26/2018 3:01:00 PM | Track and Field

Lattin, Barraza break school records, four more book quarterfinal berths

HOUSTON – The Houston Cougar Men's and Women's Track & Field teams turned in an impressive day at the NCAA West Regional, qualifying eight student-athletes for the NCAA Championships, on Friday.

ABOUT THE NCAA WEST REGIONAL
The relays will hit the track for the first time on the final day of the meet on Saturday. The men's and women's 4x100-meter relays kick off action at 8 p.m. CT, while the 4x400-meter relays will conclude competition at 11:45 p.m. CT. Saturday will be packed full of field event action for Houston with the women's hammer throw and men's javelin opening the day at 2 p.m. CT, and the men's shot put wrapping up field events at 6:30 p.m. CT.

FOLLOW THE REGIONAL LIVE
For the first time in history, all three days of the NCAA West Regional can be streamed live courtesy of FloTrack. The live stream for each day can be found by clicking HERE, and a fee is required to access the stream.

Live results will also be made available courtesy of the NCAA. Access to the live results can be found by clicking HERE.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior Kahmari Montgomery was the first Cougar on the men's side to book a berth in the NCAA Championships, returning to action in the 400-meter dash. Montgomery, cruised to a victory in his heat of the first round, before returning Friday to clock a time of 45.25 and post the second-fastest time of the quarterfinals.

Houston would see three men qualify for the NCAA Championships in the 100-meter dash, including Cameron Burrell who ran the second-fastest time of the quarterfinal round at 10.14 to return to Eugene, where he finished as the silver medalist a season ago.

The 2018 NCAA Indoor Champion in the 60- and 200-meter dashes, Elijah Hall, would qualify with the third-fastest time of the quarterfinals at 10.22, while American Champion in the 100, Mario Burke, booked his ticket by running 10.33 to qualify 10th.

Brianne Bethel would prove to be Houston's first sprinter to book a trip to the NCAA Championships after qualifying in the 100-meter dash. Bethel ran the ninth-fastest time in the First Round at 11.35, before running 11.31 on Friday to qualify 11th.

For the second-consecutive day, Amere Lattin broke the school record in the 400-meter hurdles, this time shaving off one, one-hundredth of a second. Lattin finished the one-lap hurdle race in 47.90 to grab the No. 3 qualifying position.

Sophomore Birexus Hawkins booked her first career trip to the NCAA Championships, when she grabbed the second automatic-qualifying position in her heat of the 400-meter hurdles. Hawkins posted the 11th-fastest time of the day at 58.25 to punch her ticket to nationals.

The final Cougar on the track was senior Brian Barraza, who booked his first career trip to the NCAA Championships. Competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Barraza broke his own school record, when he finished the distance-hurdle race in 8:41.49 to finish second in the heat and pick up the automatic-qualifying spot.

Lattin would open the day on the track in the first round of the men's 110-meter hurdles, where he would qualify for his second quarterfinal race of the meet. The junior went up-and-over the straight-track obstacles in a season-best 13.60 to grab the second-fastest qualifying time of the afternoon. Lattin will run in the quarterfinals of the event at 9:05 p.m. CT, Saturday.

A trio of Cougar sprinters would qualify for the quarterfinals of the 200-meter dash, including Nicholas Alexander and Burke on the men's side. Alexander raced around the track in a personal-best 20.84 to win the fifth heat and earn an automatic-qualifying position, while Burke would also auto-qualify after running 21.32 to finish third in heat four.

For the women, it was again Bethel advancing to the next round of action, picking up the 11th-fastest time in the first round of the 200. Bethel finished one-half lap around the track in 23.20 to finish second in the fifth heat and earn an automatic-qualifying spot for Saturday's quarterfinal.

The men will compete in the event at 9:35 p.m. CT, Friday, while Bethel will return at 9:50 p.m. CT.

Junior Nora Monie opened the day for the Cougars in the field, competing in the first flight of the women's discus. Monie used her second attempt to throw the disc 167-2 (50.97m) to finish 22nd, improving 13 spots from where she entered the competition.

Elsewhere in the sprints, John Lewis III just missed booking a trip to the NCAA Championships after posting the 11th-fastest time in the 100-meter dash. Lewis III's time of 10.36 placed him above Chris Jefferson (Sam Houston State; 10.39) and Elijah Ross (Arkansas State; 10.43) however due to their finish in the heat, Jefferson and Ross earned the automatic-qualifying positions.

Alexander would finish the 100-meter dash in 21st after running 10.58, while Hall finished 24th in the 200-meter dash at 21.28. Freshman Quivell Jordan just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 400-meter hurdles, running 50.95 to place 15th.

For the women, freshman Tristan Evelyn ran a personal-best 11.51 to finish 21st in the 100, while Naomi Taylor placed 46th in the 100-meter hurdles at 15.30.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR SATURDAY
Fans will get a look at Houston's 4x100-meter relay teams to open the final day of competition. The men, the defending national champions in the race, enter with the fourth-fastest time in the NCAA this season at 38.92, while the women hold the 10th-fastest time in the West at 44.46.

The remainder of running events will consist of finals action from the second day until the meet is capped on the track with the men's and women's 4x400-meter relay. Houston's men broke the school-record en route to running the No. 2 time in the West at 3:01.82, while the women posted their qualifying time of 3:36.51 to win The American Championship.

Saturday will also see the conclusion of regional field events, beginning in the throws with the women's hammer and the men's javelin. Junior Taylor Scaife makes her second-consecutive regional appearance in the hammer after posting a school-record at 204-7 (62.37m), while Jack Thomas will enter the jav for the men ranked inside the top-10 at 234-10 (71.58m).

Colin George will make his NCAA West Regional debut after posting the 30th-best mark this season in the high jump. George cleared the bar at a personal-best 6-10.75 (2.10m) at the Victor Lopez Classic.

Felipe Valencia returns to the NCAA West Regional fresh off a silver medal in the shot put at The American Outdoor Championships. In Cincinnati, Valencia posted a career-best mark of 61-4.25 (18.70m) to rank 14th in the region.

A full list of competitors, including the heats and flights they will compete in can be found HERE for the men and HERE for the women.

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/UHCougarTF) and Twitter pages (@UHCougarTF).