Houston track & field takes on busy week of mid-April competition, hosts Tom Tellez Invitational

Houston track & field competed in three different meets over the course of April 15-18, taking part in the Mt. SAC relays for the decathlon, the Wake Forest Invitational for steeplechase and lastly hosting the Tom Tellez Invitational at the Carl Lewis International Complex.

At the Wake Forest invitational, junior Patrick Flowers won section two of the steeplechase, getting a time of 8:51.96 to beat his previous best time by nearly 13 seconds. Flowers also earned the fifth fastest time in Cougar history for the event.

At the Tom Tellez Invitational, the Cougars clinched nine first-place finishes despite the meet getting cut short on Saturday due to bad weather in the area.

Four Cougars secure top spots in men’s results 

Junior Jaelyn Reeves-Lile got first place in the 100-meter dash, recording a time of 10.43 in the finals after also winning the qualifying round.

For the discus throw, senior Caanan Wharry got first place with a distance of 55.02 meters.

Sophomore Ty Lott placed first in the hammer throw, getting a distance of 64.17 meters.

In the high jump, two Cougars finished in the top three, with junior Andrea Mita getting first place with a height of 2.16 meters, and freshman Kenneth Owen taking home third place with a height of 2.01 meters.

Junior Cordell Nwokeji secured first place in the shot put, getting a distance of 18.96 meters.

The Cougars had two runners get in the top four in the 110-meter hurdles, with sophomore Noah Hanson placing third with a time of 13.97 and junior Jairius Burton finishing fourth with a time of 14.15.

Senior Reese Pokluda got second place in pole vault, getting a height of 5.05 meters.

In the long jump, freshman Simeon Cannon finished second place with a distance of 7.39 meters.

Lastly, in the 800-meter run, sophomore Shawn Freeman completed the race with a time of 1:51.13, which was good for second place.

Cougars dominate women’s 100-meters among four first place finishes 

Houston swept the top three in the 100-meter dash, with junior Ruth Agadama finishing first at 11.55 and sophomores Matilde Ochoa and Taylor Jackson placing second and third with times of 11.62 and 11.65, respectively.

Junior Kaycee McCoy placed first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.28.

In pole vault, sophomore Evina Panagiotou took first place, getting a season-best height of 4.23 meters.

The 4×100-meter relay team secured first place, recording a time of 44.6 seconds.

Sophomore Kali Magana placed third in the 400 meters, posting a time of 55.38 seconds.

In the hammer throw, junior Zaeda Houff placed second with a distance of 58.21 meters.

Sophomore Athena Stith took second as well, getting a distance of 5.78 meters in the long jump.

Houston placed second and third in the shot put, with sophomores Cleo Agyepong and Sydney Freeman recording distances of 16.56 meters and 15.46 meters, respectively.

Lastly, in the triple jump, freshman Saphina Stanley placed second with a distance of 12.10 meters, and sophomore Stephanie Ume-Ezeoke got third with a distance of 11.47 meters.

Next up for the Cougars are the Penn Relays in Philadelphia from April 23-25.