Junior Amere Lattin ran 6.80s to win the men’s 60H at the Houston Invitational. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
After being quiet for the first few meets of the season, junior hurdler Amere Lattin sprung back into the track & field spotlight.
Lattin won the men’s 60m hurdles competition this weekend at the Houston Invitational. His time of 7.80s was the No. 10 time in the NCAA at the conclusion of the race. His time is still No. 16 in the country.
Lattin went to the NCAA Indoor Championships last year but failed to reach the 60H finals. If the season were to end today he would have earned his second trip to the championships. Now he just has to work on improving his time.
Overall the Cougars had 14 podium places between both the men and the women. Apart from Lattin, the only other event win was from junior Sebastian Russi in the heptathlon. Russi scored a personal best 4987 points in the win, currently the sixth best performance in conference.
The Cougars had four athletes and one relay team earn times and/or marks that currently rank in the top 5 of the American Athletic Conference.
Sophomore Samiyah Samuels matched her career best in the women’s long jump, placing second with a best jump of 6.08m. Her mark is the best in conference so far and, in addition to Lattin, she was one of two Cougars to set top conference marks/times at the meet.
Sophomore Anna Larsson placed second in the women’s pentathlon with a points total of 3478, currently third in conference.
Seniors Antwan Dickerson and Jared Kerr both competed in the long jump invitational and again placed after one another. Dickerson placed second with a personal best 7.50m, while Kerr placed third with a jump of 7.43m. Their marks are currently No. 4 and No. 6 in conference respectively.
The men’s distance medley team of Cameron Laverty, Chris Scott, Caleb Holl and Cooper Godfrey ran the fifth fastest time in conference so far this year (10:38.08) as they earned bronze in the competition.
With both senior Elijah Hall and junior Mario Burke sitting out the men’s 60m competition this week, two highly touted freshman were able to make their mark. Freshmen Joe Williams and Nicholas Alexander went second and third in the 60m final, running 6.78s and 6.80s respectively.
While their marks are not in the top nationally, Alexander’s time is No. 6 out of all conference sprinters. Williams already had the No. 5 fastest conference time at 6.77s.
Freshman hurdler Naomi Taylor placed second with a time of 8.60s in the 60H. She already owned the No. 1 conference time of 8.38s.
The track & field team’s next meet is in College Station at the Charlie Thomas Invitational. That meet will start Friday and go into Saturday.
