Several past and present Cougars had respectable showings at this weekend’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships and USA Junior Championships in Eugene, Ore. But none fared better than freshman Isaiah Sweeney.
With a fourth-place time of 10.3 seconds in the finals of the junior men’s 100 meters, Sweeney earned a spot on the U.S. team that will compete at this year’s Pan-American Junior Athletics Championships, held July 31 through Aug. 2 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Sweeney was a member of the 2008 Cougar football team, and was joined this past weekend by a fellow freshman and gridiron teammate Tyron Carrier. Carrier was unable to advance past the preliminaries in the men’s 200 meters, turning in a time of 21.17 in his lone performance during the meet.
Freshmen D’Korian Ford and Starla Garcia also competed in the weekend’s events. Ford’s 52.37-second finish in the junior men’s 400-meter hurdles earned him fifth. In the junior women’s 5,000 meters, Garcia placed 13th with a time of 18:35.30.
Senior Ivan Diggs tied for 12th in the men’s high jump with a jump of 2.15 meters (7 feet, 0.64 inches).
Sophomore Chris Carter’s 15.17-meter (49 feet, 9.24 inches) leap in the men’s triple jump earned him a tie for 18th.
Several track and field alumni also competed for national teams at the meet, including Ebonie Floyd-Broadnax. She placed seventh in the women’s 200 meters with a time of 22.77.
Also in attendance was Carey LaCour, who bowed out of the competition in the preliminaries of the stacked men’s 100 meters after posting 10.28.
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Soccer standout receives scholarship
The accolades and awards keep coming for former UH goalkeeper Shelby Scott, as she was named the recipient of the 2009 Jim Casta’ntilde;eda Postgraduate Scholarship Award.
Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowky announced Friday that Scott would be presented with the $4,000 scholarship. The annual honor is awarded to graduates who are selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.
During her time at UH, Scott excelled both on the pitch and in the classroom. Scott is a four-time winner of the C-USA Academic Medal, a two-time member of the ESPN The Magazine All-District 6 First Team and a three-time member of the C-USA All-Academic Team. This year, she was also named the recipient of the C-USA Scholar-Athlete Award for soccer.
On the pitch, Scott leaves UH as the all-time leader in wins (20), shutouts (14) and saves (304). Last season, she set the school record for shutouts in a season with six. She also set a personal season-best with a 1.26 goals-against average, which ranks fourth all-time among Cougars.
This is the first year the award has been named for Casta’ntilde;eda, who served at Rice University for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he died in November.
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