Houston hosts Robert Platt Invitational, winning twelve events

Houston track and field hosted its annual Robert Platt Invitational this past weekend, the second-hosted event of the track season and the third meet overall. On Friday, sophomore Evina Panagiotou broke a 25-year school record in the pole vault, one of the Cougars’ 11 victories for this two-day meet.

Friday, Jan. 31

Women’s

Panagiotou placed first in the pole vault with a height of 4.21 meters, setting a school record.

Freshman Jada Stanford got third in the 400-meter with a time of 56.34.

In the weight throw, two Cougars placed in the top three, with juniors Esther Osisuke and Zaeda Houff finishing second and third. The pair’s distances were 19.94 and 19.62 meters, respectively.

Men’s

Sophomore Ty Lott placed third in the weight throw with a distance of 20.43 meters.

In the Heptathlon, junior Kevin Brooks placed second overall, winning the 60-meter dash and the high jump portions of the event.

Saturday, Feb. 1

Women’s

Sophomore Norah Nwonumah placed secondin the 200-meter with a time of 24.39.

Sophomore Michaela Mouton was able to win the 300-meter dash with a time of 38.35. Fellow Cougar freshman Kamree Woolidge getting third with a time of 38.97.

In the 600-yard run, Houston was able to take the top two spots with sophomore Kali Magana getting first with a time of 1:26:79 and freshman Destiney Verdin right behind her with a time of 1:28:98.

Freshman Addison Hites places second in the mile run with a time of 4:50:85.

For the 60-meter hurdles, senior Kaycee McCoy won it for the Cougars with a time of 8.07.

In the pentathlon, senior Ali Mack placed second, placing top 5 in all five of the pentathlon events.

And lastly, for shot put, the Cougars took the top two spots again for the second time this meet, with sophomore Cleo Oye-Agyepong placing first with a distance of 15.90-meter, and Osisike with a distance of 15.12 meters.

Men’s

In the 60-meter dash, freshman Bradley Lowman placed first with a time of 6.75.

Senior Ryan Mulholland got second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.40.

Houston again got a top two result in an event, getting first and second in the 300-yard dash. Freshman Dominic Harper won it with a time of 33.86, and sophomore Damarian Jacobs was right behind him with a time of 34.01.

Sophomore Elijah Hernandez brought home the win in the 600-yard run with a time of 1:11:02. Close behind was freshman William King IV, who got a time of 1:15:62 and placed third.

In distance running, the Cougars saw great success with freshmen Zachary Miller and Remay Abraha getting first and second in the mile run with times of 4:00:64 and 4:03:03.

In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Anthony Trucks got first with a time of 7.78, with sophomore Noah Hanson placing third.

Turning to the field events, the men saw some success with junior Antrea Mita getting first in the high jump with a height of 2.15 meters.

Lastly, junior Cordell Nwokeji continued his dominance in the shot put. He notched his third straight first-place performance, getting a distance of 18.32 meters, a whole meter ahead of second.

The Cougars will look to continue their strong start to the indoor season next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6-7, at the Charlie Thomas Invitational at Texas A&M University in College Station. The meet will be their second-to-last before the Big 12 Conference Championships.