Seun Adigun was one of three Cougars to qualify for the 2009 NCAA Championships at this weekend’s NCAA Midwest Regional in Norman, Okla.
Sophomore Chris Carter and senior Ivan Diggs will join Adigun at nationals, after their performances in the triple jump and high jump, respectively.
Adigun clocked a personal best of 12.88 seconds in the women’s 100-meter hurdles to narrowly missing Jenny Adam’s school record of 12.86.’
Carter’s 16.20-meter (53 feet, 1.79 inches) clearance in the men’s triple jump landed him in fifth, but was good enough to send him to the NCAAs.
Senior Ivan Diggs was the first Cougar to qualify for the NCAA Championships, clearing 2.22 meters (7 feet, 3.4 inches) in the men’s high jump Friday. Diggs’ jump – .01 meters short of his personal best of 2.23 meters – earned second place.
This was a resurgent season for Diggs, who missed the entire 2008 campaign with injuries.
The men’s team finished 16th with 15.25 points, while the women’s 14 points landed them in 17th.
Twenty-seven Cougars competed for a spot in the NCAA Championships, which will be held June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Since you left
In mid-May, Adigun won her second conference outdoor title with a 13.11-second finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the C-USA Outdoor Championships. The time was one-hundredth of a second off the meet-record Adams set in 2000.
The hurdler’s dominant performance this season was rewarded, as she received the 2009 C-USA Women’s Track Athlete of the Year award. Adigun joins Adams (1997) and Ebonie Floyd (2006, 2007) as the only Cougars to win the honor.
She recorded regional marks in the 100-meter (11.67) and 200-meter hurdles (23.85) and as a member of the 400-meter relay team (44.30).
UH head coach Leroy Burrell was awarded C-USA Coach of the Year. Freshman Athlete of the Year went to Cougar D’Korian Ford, while Carter earned Performance of the Meet.
Ford took home three medals on the final day of the conference meet. The freshman captured the silver after finishing the 110-meter hurdles in 14.61 seconds. He also won two bronze medals in the 400-meter hurdles (52.12) and high jump (2.00 meters/6 feet, 6.74 inches).
The UH men scored 198 points to take home their first conference outdoor track title since 2005, edging in-state rival UTEP’s by 49 points. The men’s title is Burrell’s 21st combined C-USA team title as head coach.
The inexperienced women’s team finished fourth in the conference with 86.5 points.
