Houston track & field clinches three conference titles at Big 12 Outdoor Championship

Houston track & field competed in the Big 12 Outdoor Championship this past weekend in Tucson, Ariz. The men’s team finished in third place with 87.33 points, behind Arizona with 101 points and the champions, Texas Tech, with 127 points. The women’s team placed 14th, with Texas Tech also taking home first place in the meet.

Houston brings home three first-place finishes

The Cougars won first in three events: the men’s high jump, men’s 4×100 relay and men’s discus.

In the men’s high jump, junior Andrea Mita won his first-ever outdoor Big 12 championship, clearing 2.26 meters, a personal best and the third-best height in the country this outdoor season, clinching a spot in the NCAA West national prelims.

In the men’s 4×100, the team of graduate Ryan Mulholland, freshman Sean Aigboboh, senior Dakari Charlton and senior Louie Hinchliffe won first with a time of 38.51, the seventh-best time in program history, as well as the third-best time in the country. As a result of their top-24 finish, the team clinched a spot in the prelims.

Graduate Canaan Wharry took home first place in men’s discus to round out the Cougar champions. Wharry threw a season-best 58.49m to take home the championship.

Cougars on the podium

UH had four athletes in the top six of the men’s 100-meter sprint, with Hinchcliffe taking home second with a time of 9.97, Charlton in third running a time of 10.11, Aigboboh in fifth with a time of 10.18 and Mulholland getting sixth with a time of 10.19.

In the 200-meter, Charlton scored for Houston, finishing third with a personal-best time of 20.28, the seventh-fastest in program history. Junior Jaelyn Reeves-Lile recorded a personal best of 20.35 for fourth place. Aigboboh finished seventh with a time of 20.53.

In the women’s shot put, sophomore Sydney Freeman threw for a personal best 15.87 meters, getting second place.

Three hurdlers placed on the podium in their own events, senior Anthony Trunks finished eighth in the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 13.79, graduate Miracle Thompson also placed eighth, getting a time of 13.22 in the women’s 100m hurdles and freshman William King IV placed seventh in the men’s 400m hurdles with a time of 51.10.

Freshman Shienna Hall placed sixth in the women’s triple jump, jumping a distance of 13.36m, which is also the third best in program history.

Sophomore Evina Panagiotou took home fifth place in pole vault, securing a height of 4.17m.

The Levesque duo of graduate Grant Levesque and sophomore Owen Levesque both placed in the decathlon, Grant getting fifth with 7,513 points and Owen placing eighth with a personal best 7,374 points.

The women’s 4×100 relay team of junior Ruth Agadama, senior Matilde Ochoa, sophomore Taylor Jackson and freshman Alexa Smothers got sixth with a season-best time of 44.78.

The 4×400 women’s relay team also got on the podium, taking home seventh place. The team of freshman Kamree Wolridge, sophomore Carlysia Cresser, freshman Jada Stanford and junior Michaela Mouton ran a time of 3:33.58.

Lastly, the men’s 4×400 team of sophomore Damarien Jacobs, sophomore King Taylor, freshman Dominic Harper and graduate Trey East III placed fourth, getting a time of 3:04.18

For much of Houston track & field, this marks the end of the 2026 outdoor track season. But for 20 qualifying Cougars from the Big 12 championships, the next step will be the NCAA West national prelims May 21-23 in Fayetteville, Ark.