by Lisa M. Chmiola
Staff Writer
The Houston track teams learned to expect the unexpected at Saturday's Houston Indoor Classic held at Athletic Alumni Center. Texas won both the men's and women's competitions. No surprise there. But the Cougars men's team, missing a key athlete, finished only fifth out of eight teams. The UH women, with some of their underclassmen athletes starting to show promise, finished fourth out of nine.
Sophomore shot-putter John Davis did not compete Saturday and may miss the rest of the indoor season due to a hernia. UH Assistant Coach Kyle Tellez said Davis underwent successful surgery Friday and should recover in time for the outdoor season, which begins in March.
"Whether or not he comes back for the indoor season is questionable," he said, adding that it depended on how quickly Davis recovers and if he feels ready to compete. With only three weeks remaining in the indoor season, Tellez said they were not going to push Davis to return before then.
Another deviation from the norm was senior hurdler and long jumper Darius Pemberton's competition in the triple jump, which he won with a leap of 51 feet, 1 inch and in the 60-meter dash, which earned him an eighth place finish in the finals.
"We put Pemberton in a lot of events he doesn't normally do," said Assistant Coach Mike Takaha.
Pemberton was back to usual in the 60-meter high hurdles with a first-place finish and a time of 7.95 seconds.
"I was pretty confident that I could win hurdles," Pemberton said. "I just needed to stay focused this week and get ready for conference (championships)."
Also finishing in the top three places were sophomore middle-distance runner Dennis Darling, earning second place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.62 seconds, and freshman Karim Alston, taking third in the 800-meter run at 1 minute, 52.95 seconds.
The Cougars also got a surprise win in the triple jump on the women's side. Freshman jumper Michelle Hickman took top honors with a 41-foot-5-inch jump.
"At first I was kind of scared because it felt too fast, but when I heard everyone screaming, that's when I knew it was a half decent jump," Hickman said of the jump which provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Championships March 7-8.
Other highlights of the women's competition include a third-place finish for freshman middle-distance runner Cilla Pettersson in the 800-meter finals (2:13.1), another for junior hurdler Lisa Duffus in the 60-meter high hurdles (8.52 seconds) and two finishes in the top three in the weight throw competition - Katie Herndon's 45-ft-2.25 inch throw for second place, and Vanessa Zavaletta's 42-foot-1.25 inch throw for third.
"For what we came in here looking to do, we ran pretty well," Takaha said. "Our main objective was to come in here and get everyone ready for the conference meet."