Talks the talk, hurdles the hurdle
Lattin doesn’t just say he’s going to be great; senior proves the doubters wrong by doing it
In this day and age, social media is the best way to get out a message.
For most of his life, it seems, Amere Lattin has felt the need to prove doubters wrong.
“Everything,” Lattin, the University of Houston’s senior track star, said recently. “I’ve been doubted all the way from high school to college.”
The doubt, Lattin said, has provided an “extra edge.” That allowed him to do the equivalent of a Twitter mic drop when he updated his list of accomplishments earlier this month after the Cougars claimed a fourth straight American Athletic Conference men’s outdoor track and field title.
• Eleven-time conference champion.
• Nine-time All-American (and counting).
• One national championship (and counting).
• Eight team conference titles.
“Ambition,” Lattin said. “I grind for everything I have. I tell my coach (Leroy Burrell) all the time I want to go down as one of the greatest hurdlers — period. Not just in the AAC. Not just in the NCAA. Throughout the entire world. I want to go down as one of the greatest hurdlers. I want to show all that to the world.”
As his collegiate career nears a close, Lattin has a chance to add to his career as part of a large Cougars contingent that
will compete in the West Regional prelims Thursday through Saturday in Sacramento, Calif. Lattin is the top seed in the 110and 400-meter hurdles and will run the first leg on the Cougars’ 1,600 relay.
Not bad for a self-professed former “football guy” who played wide receiver and did not commit full time to track until his junior year in high school. Once he did, Lattin helped begin a prep track dynasty at Fort Bend Marshall.
“Starting off, it was a little bit rough, but I found my niche and what I wanted to do and what I needed to do,” Lattin said. “I worked hard for what I wanted.”
From the start, it did not come easy for Lattin.
“Amere was the absolute classic overachiever,” Marshall coach Lloyd Banks said. “He wasn’t supposed to be, but he worked his tail off to be the guy he is now. He can honestly say, ‘I did this. I bust my butt to get to this point.’ ”
At the time, Marshall had a star-studded group, led by Kendall Sheffield. During Lattin’s junior season, Sheffield — who eventually signed to play football at Alabama, transferred to Ohio State and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of this year’s NFL draft — was dealing with an injury. Banks challenged Lattin to step into a bigger leadership role.
Lattin responded by beating Sheffield, his close friend and training partner, in the 110 and 300 hurdles in the district meet. “OK, he’s ready,” Banks recalled. Marshall went on to finish as the Class 4A runner-up that season and won the 5A title the following year.
“You see (Sheffield) running 36.5 and 36.4 (seconds in the 300) with ease and go run 13.4, 13.5 easy (in the 110) and walk off the track like it’s nothing, I was like I need to get faster to do that,” Lattin said.
The success, and a can’t-lose mentality, has fueled Lattin ever since.
“He was a hard worker. He did not want to lose,” Banks said. “He was going to compete at every turn. If we were playing jacks, the intensity level is going to go up when Amere walks into the room.
“He just absolutely became a monster because he got some success and he was winning. He became the guy. He took over. It was like, ‘I’m here, this is my show, let’s go.’ ”
Earlier this month, Lattin broke his own record in the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.56, becoming the first person in AAC history to win the same event four times. In the 400 hurdles, Lattin captured his third outdoor title with a meet record time of 49.79. Both marks in the 110 and 400 are the fifth fastest in the nation this season.
With qualifiers in 11 events, the Cougars will seek to qualify as many as possible this weekend for the NCAA outdoor championships, which will be held June 3-5 in Austin. Houston finished third last year, the best in school history, and again are considered among the favorites.
Lattin could have a big say in how the Cougars fare.
“He wants to be great,” Banks said. “A lot of people talk it. It sounds cool to say, but he actually moves like an individual that wants to be great.”