Running into a headwind, Cameron Burrell ran 10.27s in the men’s 100m final to claim the bronze medal for USA Team. | File Photo/The Cougar
Day two of track & field competition at the Summer Universiade saw the first medal won by a Cougar.
Senior sprinter Cameron Burrell claimed the bronze medal in the men’s 100m final. Burrell coasted his way into the final, never running faster than 10.30s range. Burrell did just enough in every race to ensure he automatically advanced.
The negative of Burrell’s coasting mentality was that he was placed in lane 9 for the final, the far right lane. Runners in lane 9 are typically unable to see what the majority of sprinters are doing during the race.
But Burrell ran 10.27s, his best race of the Universiade. But the day belonged to Taipei’s Chun-Han Yang, who won gold with a 10.22s run. Burrell’s time only put him at third, edging out Tyquendo Tracy of Jamaica for the bronze medal.
With more a more favorable lane assignment, Burrell may have been able to run faster, but he was also running into a headwind at 1 m/s. Regardless of the outcome, Burrell has earned USA Team’s first medal of the games.
LeShon Collins, a 2016 graduate, matched Burrell in qualifying. In every race he ran just fast enough to advance to the next round. But he, too, had a poor lane assignment: lane 2 on the far left.
In the final Collins ran 10.32s, placing sixth out of the eight runners.
Sophomore Samiyah Samuels was the second Cougar to compete in a final on day two. Competing in the women’s long jump, Samuels placed seventh with a best jump of 6.17m.
Sophomore Birexus Hawkins missed out on the women’s 400m final after placing seventh in her semifinal heat with a time of 57.63s. 2016 graduate Kelli Hardnett also missed out on the final after being disqualified in semifinal heat 3.
Junior throwers Mikaila Martin and Taylor Scaife competed in the qualifying groups of the women’s hammer throw, but both missed out on qualifying for Saturday’s final.
Martin placed eighth in Group A with a 52.71m throw, while Scaife placed eleventh in group B with a 51.34m throw.
