Houston relishes its best finish since 1959
Georgia captures men’s team title; USC wins women’s
The University of Houston track program bills itself as “Speed City,” a well-deserved title after obliterating the competition in two marquee events at the NCAA outdoor championships.
In a steady rain Friday night at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., the Cougars blew away the field to repeat in the 400-meter relay with a collegiate record time of 38.17 seconds.
An hour later, Cameron Burrell and Elijah Hall finished 1-2 in the 100 meters, becoming just the second school to take the top two spots in the event in NCAA history.
With that, the Burrell-Hall duo put their names alongside Carl Lewis and Stanley Floyd as well as Leroy Burrell and Joe Deloach as the top sprint duos in school history.
“Eli and Cameron are two of the best to ever come through this program,” said Leroy Burrell, the UH coach. “To come and have the year they had in sprints and really dominate collegiate sprinting really speaks volumes about our staff and our plan and development.”
UH finished third in the team standings behind Georgia and Florida, the seventh top-10 finish in in school history and best since placing third in 1959.
A third national title was in reach until race leader Brian Barraza suffered a devastating fall in the final 300 meters of the 3,000-meter steeplechase and finished 10th.
“I thought the guys competed admirably,” Burrell said. “We’ll have to try and get back here next year.”
Time to pass the baton
Now, with Cameron Burrell and Hall both seniors, comes the passing of the baton as the Cougars look to the future.
Leroy Burrell said the “pipeline is certainly full” with a cast of All-Americans who gained valuable experience at the NCAA meet.
The Cougars return two members from the record-breaking 400 relay that broke TCU’s 29year-old record of 38.23 set in 1989 — John Lewis III and Mario Burke, along with Jacarias Martin, who was a member of the 2017 relay champion, and incoming junior college All-American Travis Collins.
Burke finished eighth in the 100, as the Cougars became the first school since 2007 to qualify three sprinters for the final. UH also returns 2018 NCAA qualifiers Amere Lattin (110- and 400meter hurdles), Nicholas Alexander (200), Kahmari Alexander (400) and Nathaniel Mechler (decathlon). The 1,600 relay of Trumaine Jefferson, Lattin, Burke and Montgomery that finished fifth returns intact.
UH will welcome Terence Ware, a two-time indoor junior college champion.
“We think that we will be in this position again,” Burrell said. “We need a few more bullets to fire at that No. 1 trophy.”
One of the biggest moments of the meet for the Cougars came in the 100, where Cameron Burrell clocked 10.13 seconds to capture his first individual national title. It was the Cougars’ first individual outdoor title since Sam Jefferson won the 100 in 1994.
“I don’t get to take off the coaching hat that often, but I was really proud of him,” Leroy Burrell said.
Burrell brings it home
Cameron Burrell joined his parents, Leroy Burrell and Michelle Finn-Burrell, as members of his family to win individual NCAA titles. Leroy Burrell won the 100 at UH and Finn captured the 100 at Florida State.
“We were hoping we could put that trophy in the case,” Leroy Burrell said. “We’ve been waiting to put an NCAA title in there, and he finally got it. I don’t think there’s been a guy in the history of collegiate sprinting that lost so many titles by so little margins, because he has been right there about five times and to finally get it I’m really proud of him.”
Previously, Cameron Burrell had finished runner-up twice in the indoor 60 meters and in the outdoor 100 last season.
“My mother is a NCAA champion. My father is a NCAA champion. So now I get that same reward,” he said. “It’s an honor following in the footsteps of good old mom and dad. It’s been on my mind since I was a child.”
A&M’s Watson wins 800
USC won the women’s team title with 53 points to prevent Georgia from completing a men’s and women’s sweep of team championships. The Bulldogs were runners-up with 52 points.
Texas A&M freshman Sammy Watson won the won the 800 meters. Watson took over the lead off the last turn and finished first in 2:04.21.
Watson became just the third freshman to win the NCAA outdoor 800 title and the first since 2015.
“I couldn’t let the conditions get to me,” Watson said. “It’s outdoors, so you can race in anything. Knowing that I could perform under the pressure and all the conditions, I’m really proud of myself.
Texas A&M totaled 15 points in the women’s national championship meet, placing 19th in team scoring.
A&M’s Tyra Gittens finished eighth in the heptathlon with a score of 5,748 points, the secondbest tally in her career, while teammate Shaina Burns scored 5,553 to place 14th.
Texas senior Pedrya Seymour finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.04 seconds and sophomore Rushelle Burton took eighth.
In the 400 hurdles, Texas senior Ariel Jones finished eighth to close her career as a two-time first-team All-American in her specialty.