Junior Jack Thomas has already had an illustrious career with the second-longest javelin throw in UH history, but will be looking for a conference title this year. | Courtesy of UH Athletics
The javelin, the discus and the shot put are three iconic areas of competition from the Olympic Games where, instead of impressing the judges with feats of swiftness and agility, the athletes display strength and power.
Five Cougars look to continue impressing the masses with their own feats of strength.
Junior Cameron Cornelius (Shot Put): Cornelius was a four-year letter winner for Deer Park High School and hit the ground running from the moment he stepped on campus.
His freshman year, he qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Regional in shot put, won the inaugural AAC Indoor shot put Championship and was named to both the Outdoor and Indoor AAC team.
Cornelius followed his impressive debut season with an even more successful sophomore campaign.
He retained his Indoor AAC championship, set a personal best throw of 18.65m – the 10th best throw in NCAA history, earned all-conference honors when he took silver at the AAC Outdoor Championship by throwing a season best 17.95m and topped it all off by qualifying for the NCAA West Regional.
Cornelius has quickly become one of the best shot put throwers in the nation and will be looking to add further accolades to his name in the coming seasons.
Junior Jack Thomas (Javelin): This upcoming Outdoor Track & Field season will be Thomas’ third as the sole Javelin thrower on the men’s team.
In his first years, Thomas set the record for second and third best throws in school history, finished third at the inaugural AAC Outdoor Championships for which he was named to the all-conference team and capped it off by qualifying for the NCAA Regional.
Thomas continued to set records his sophomore season by once again earning all-conference honors and qualifying for the NCAA West Regional, but his biggest achievement was his third place finish throw of 69.03m at the AAC Championship meet.
The throw not only set a personal best, but is now the second longest throw in program history.
After back-to-back third place finishes in the Championships, Thomas will be looking to finally take home his coveted prize.
RS Junior Damon Thompson (Weight Throw, Hammer Throw): Thompson is entering his third competitive season as a thrower, tossing Shot Put and Weight Throw during the indoor season and the Discus and Hammer during the outdoor season.
In his redshirt-freshman season, Thompson was the only Cougar to score in the weight throw at the AAC Indoor Championship.
He also threw a personal best 11.84m in shot put, took fourth at the AAC Outdoor Championship with a hammer throw of 56.15m (third best in school history) and set a personal best discus throw of 47.62m.
His sophomore season, Thompson finished fourth in the weight throw at the AAC Indoor Championship, set a school record 19.10m weight throw in the Indoor opener, finished fifth at the AAC Outdoor Championship in the hammer throw and set a new personal best in the event with a 58.99m throw.
