Eight athletes will represent UH at the 2008 Men’s and Women’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake University. The event begins June 11 in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake Stadium. Six women and two men will compete in five events for the Cougars.
The women will begin the meet on Wednesday in the 4 x 100-meter women’s relay. Junior Dayo Ogunniyi, freshman Kayln Floyd, sophomore Quin’shundolyn McPherson and junior Seun Adigun earned their chance to compete in the championships when they finished in sixth place in 45 seconds at the Midwest Regional in Lincoln, Nebraska two weeks ago.
All-Region Freshman Tyrone Carrier will compete at his first NCAA Championships as a standout freshman in the men’s 200-meter on Thursday. Carrier earned a spot at the NCAA Championships with a 20.6-second finish, his best time of the season, at the Midwest Regional. His performance earned him a second place medal.
All-Region sophomore Jason Perez will also compete Thursday in the men’s 400-meter hurdles. Perez, who is the C-USA Champion in this event, finished fifth at the Midwest Regional in 50.37 seconds.
The women’s 100-meter hurdles, also on Thursday, will feature Adigun in her second event. At the Midwest Regional Meet, Adigun was named to the All-Region Team after finishing fourth and taking silver at the C-USA Championships.
Carrier, Perez and Adigun all earned an automatic bid to the championships by finishing in the top five at regionals.
McPherson and Floyd return to action Saturday along with freshman Candyce Cross and junior LaNeeka Allen. The 4 x 400-meter relay team, which placed third at the Midwest Regional, will be the last Cougars to compete at the event.
Adigun, Floyd and McPherson are the only Cougars participating in multiple events.
C-USA is sending 45 athletes who will compete in 55 events to the meet. University of Texas at El Paso leads the conference with 16 athletes, eight men and eight women competing, while the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Tulsa will send the smallest squads with one athlete from each school to compete. With eight athletes, UH will send the third-most athletes from C-USA.
CBS College Sports Network will air live coverage of the meet on Friday from 7 to 10 p.m.
