It wasn’t the ending the Houston Cougars were looking for. As far as days go, Saturday wasn’t one of the better ones on the track for UH.
The NCAA track season came to an end on Saturday with the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Drake University in Des Moines, where Texas A&M swept the men’s and women’s team titles for the third straight year.
The Cougars had a relay team and two individuals going in Saturday’s events with the biggest momentum coming from the women’s 400-meter relay team, one of the best in the country and fresh off a personal-best time in the semifinals just days earlier.
But it wasn’t in the cards for the quartet of Tai’Shea Reese, Whitney Harris, Kalyn Floyd and Grecia Bolton as the Cougars didn’t finish. A fall by Texas A&M Dominique Duncan in the next lane during the final handoff was enough to throw off the Cougars’ handoff and seal their fate. LSU ended up winning the race with a blazing time of 42.64 seconds.
The highlight of the day was provided by senior Chris Carter, who finished eighth in the triple jump. Undoubtedly Carter would have liked to have done better, but it was good enough to nab him All-American status in the event and give him that distinction in both the indoor and outdoor seasons (he finished fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships to gain All-American status). It caps off what was truly a strong and impressive season for Carter, a Hearne product who has made quite the journey from a small Class 2A town to a good career for a good college program.
Carter jumped 52 feet, 11-1/2 inches. Senior teammate Lamar Delaney finished 18th with a jump of 50 feet, 6-3/4. <Link to meet results>
Despite the rough ending, the Cougars made some progress towards the end of the season. The women had a much stronger showing in the Conference USA Outdoor championships than they did during indoors and the 400 relay teams times throughout the year got lower. The men’s squad had another strong year, sweeping the conference indoor and outdoor titles and sent six individuals to nationals. Surely they’ll want to get some relay teams there next year, but coach Leroy Burrell seems optimistic about the future.
“Our women’s team looks very strong for next season and our men will probably have even more qualifiers next year,” Burrell said. “Our program is heading in the right direction.”
