Junior Amere Lattin hurdled his way back into the NCAA Top 16 with a win at the Houston Invitational Saturday. Currently one of two athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
Once again there has been movement on the NCAA charts as all track & field athletes around the country are jockeying for position on the Top 16 list.
Two athletes and one relay team currently reside in the NCAA Top 16, covering four events. The newest addition is junior hurdler Amere Lattin who is back on the charts after winning the men’s 60m hurdles at the Houston Invitational Saturday. His time of 7.80s is currently No. 16 in the nation.
Lattin was on the charts earlier in the year but fell off after a quiet few weeks. Now he has to work on solidifying his spot in the national rankings.
Senior sprinter Elijah Hall is the other athlete on the chart. Despite not running this weekend Hall still has Top 5 times in two events. His 6.60s 60m time is still No. 2 and his 20.76s 200m time is still No. 4.
The past has shown the only thing stopping Hall is his health, so if he takes care of his body this season a trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships is all but assured with his current times.
Lastly, the men’s 4x400m relay team still owns one of the top times in the country. The team of Lattin, junior Mario Burke, freshman Quivell Jordan and junior Kahmari Montgomery ran a school record three minutes, 7.01 seconds at the Corky Classic on Jan. 13. That time is currently No. 5 in the NCAA, only a slight drop from its No. 3 spot last week.
Montgomery is one of three athletes with times just outside the NCAA Top 16. His 46.83s 400m time is currently No. 22 in the country, a six point drop after being No. 16 last week.
But Montgomery was rested this weekend with the specific purpose of planning to run an improved 400m time this weekend at College Station.
Senior Tonye’cia Burks and junior Samiyah Samuels are the two with the closest possible chance of qualifying for the NCAA’s from the women’s team. Competing in the triple jump and long jump respectively, Burks owns the No. 20 best mark (12.92m) and Samuels owns the No. 26 best mark (6.08m).
For Burks, her mark is less than .1m short of her indoor personal best. While Samuels mark matches her PR from a year ago.
All will again be competing this weekend in College Station at the Charlie Thomas Invitational. Events should expect to start on 12pm CT Friday, official times to be announced later.
