Following the annual Houston Alumni Invitational against the No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday, the men’s track & field team dropped from No. 3 to No. 5 in the USTFCCCA rankings.
Regardless, both the men and women are putting up numbers that will qualify them for the NCAA West Regional, even with more than a month of competition remaining. Presently, 23 athletes and four relays from both teams own qualifying marks and times.
Here are some of the most notable qualifiers:
Junior hurdler Amere Lattin has the highest placement of any athlete regardless of event. He is currently No. 2 in the West in the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 13.72s. Lattin and freshman hurdler Quivell Jordan are No. 3 and No. 9 in the men’s 400m hurdles at 50.29s and 51.11s, respectively.
Senior sprinter Elijah Hall is the only other athlete with a top-two mark. In the men’s 200m, he is No. 2 in the West and in the NCAA with a time of 20.11s.
Junior sprinter John Lewis III has the No. 3 best men’s 100m time in the West at 10.13s, also good for No. 6 in the NCAA.
Hall and Lewis are also on the men’s 4x100m relay team, along with freshmen Nick Alexander and Cameron Burrell, who is No. 2 in the West and No. 3 in the nation with a time of 38.92s.
Rounding out the men are redshirt seniors Brian Barraza, Jack Thomas, and Antwan Dickerson. Barraza is No. 3 in the NCAA in the men’s 3000m steeplechase with a time of eight minutes, 41.58s. Thomas is No. 4 in the West and No. 6 in the NCAA in the javelin throw with a top mark of 71.58m. Dickerson is No. 7 in the West in the men’s long jump with a best jump of 7.75m.
Sophomore Samiyah Samuels owns the best mark from the women. At 6.29m, her long jump mark is No. 4 in the West and No. 12 in the NCAA.
Sophomore Taylor Scaife is No. 11 in the West and No. 16 in the country for the hammer throw at 62.10m.
Senior Tonye’cia Burks has a best triple jump mark of 12.76m, ranked No. 15 in the West.
Freshman Naomi Taylor has a time of 13.45s in the women’s 100m hurdles, No. 12 in the West Region, while sophomore sprinter Brianne Bethel is No. 11 and No. 13 in the 200m and 100m in the West, with a time of 23.10s and 11.42s, respectively.