The Houston track and field team excelled at the Victor Lopez Invitational on Saturday at Rice, finishing the three-day meet with six individual wins and 23 personal bests.
Graduate student Cecilia Tamayo-Garza set the tone of the meet for the Cougars as she won the women’s 100m event with an 11.51, the 23rd ranking time in the nation. Junior Tianna Randle followed close behind, grabbing a third-place finish for the cougars with an 11.87.
Over on the men’s side, they quickly followed in the footsteps of the women, grabbing the second and third podium spots in both 110-meter hurdles and 200-meter sprint.
Junior Iman Babineaux defended her title in the women’s 400-meter sprint, making a time of 54.71, and clinching the gold.
The women continue dominating as senior Sydni Townsend win the 400-meter hurdle with a time of 59.09, beating the runner-up by over a second.
Nu’uausala Tuilefano, a graduate student, launched 49.31 on the discus throw, earning her a rightful gold medal– the first in this event for her college career.
Senior Destiny Lawrence, the UH record holder in the triple jump, held her own and collected another gold medal with a 13.05-meter jump.
The men make a comeback with a 39.00 in the 4x100m relay. Graduate student Jordan Booker, Brown, grad student Edward Sumler IV, and junior Shaun Maswanganyi completed the race in the second fastest time in the NCAA, just .09 seconds off of the first place time.
Babineaux, Tamayo-Garcia, junior Linesha Thompson, and Townsend race the fastest time in the AAC for the 1,600-meter relay, earning second with a 19th nationally-ranked time of 3:39.45.
Overall, it was a promising meet for the Cougars. UH will travel to Austin to compete in the Clyde Littlefield Texas on March 30-April 1.