Women’s tennis dropped a conference match against Southern Methodist University on Saturday, 4-0. | Justin Cross/The Cougar
In the midst of spring break and March Madness, it was another busy weekend in the world of Cougar sports.
Track and field
The men’s and women’s teams opened up their outdoor season by heading down I-10 to San Antonio for the UTSA Invitational. The teams brought home six individual championships, including wins from each of the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relays.
The team of Bria Carter, Tonye’cia Burks, Tori Williams and Kelli Hardnett clocked a 45.13 in the women’s 400-meter relay to win by nearly a full second against Wichita State’s squad. Mario Burke, James Arnett, LeShon Collins and Cameron Burrell clocked the only sub-40 second men’s relay, finishing in 39.86 to beat SFA’s top relay squad that ran 41.04.
These Cougars won their individual events:
- Sophomore Tonye’cia Burks – Triple jump (40’-2.75)
- Freshman Amere Lattin – 110-meter hurdles (13.92)
- Senior Kelli Hardnett – 200-meter dash (23.71)
- Junior Bria Carter – 100-meter dash (11.57)
- Freshman Mario Burke – 100-meter dash (10.34)
- Freshman Brian Bell – 1,500-meter run (4:00.91)
Baseball
The team continued to be weekend warriors, winning their fifth straight weekend series. This weekend it was an impressive three game sweep over Grand Canyon University. The Cougars averaged just over four runs a game, while left fielder Michael Pyeatt led the team with four RBI.
After this weekend, the 19th ranked Cougars are now up to 13-6 on the year after completing a perfect 5-0 week. Houston will continue its home stand when it welcomes cross-town rival Rice to Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park on Tuesday.
Softball
Next door to the baseball team, the softball team was taking on the Oklahoma State University Cowboys. After an extra inning thriller and some late game heroics from freshman outfielder Elise LeBeouf, the Cougars got the win in the opening game but fell short in the next two, losing the series as a whole.
After scoring 10 runs in the first game, the Cougars only managed to put up three runs in each of the next two games. Senior first baseman Courtney Klingler led the team with four RBI. The Cougars’ record fell below .500 to 12-13 while the Cowboys improved to 14-12.
Tennis
On Saturday, the women’s tennis team fell 4-0 to in-state rival SMU in its first road match since Feb. 13.
With only five active players, Houston was unable to fill a court in both singles and doubles competition and entered play down 1-0. In the doubles competition, with SMU only needing to win one out of the two doubles matches, Hristina Dishkova and Dasha Sharapova defeated Cougars Tina Rupert and Mina Markovic 6-1 to give SMU the 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs were able to earn their final two points of the day on the singles court where Markovic fell first, 6-2, 6-1 to Bulgakova on the second court. SMU’s Yana Erkeeva picked up the final point of the match with a 6-4, 6-0 defeat of Rupert on the fourth court.
Golf
On Sunday, the women’s golf team traveled to Louisiana to compete in the LSU Tigers Classic. The Cougars will compete in a 17-team field, which includes a number of nationally-ranked teams.
The Cougars are currently in sixth place with a team score of +19 strokes over par as they look for their third straight championship to open the spring season.
Sophomore Yuka Kajiki leads all Cougars, shooting just +3 over par, placing her in a tie for 11th place. The team hits the links again Monday in the second of three rounds.
