UH Baseball

New track facility opens up with a bang; UH ends day with win

By Tom Carpenter
Daily Cougar Staff

Performing before a panoply of stars from the past, the UH men's track and field team was simply out of this world as it completed a stunning comeback to capture the win at the inaugural outdoor meet of the Tom Tellez Track.

Tied with Big Ten track-and-field-powerhouse Illinois with only two events remaining, the Cougars went nova and blew the Fighting Illini away, leaving the rest of the field choking on their cosmic dust.

Barry Watson/The Daily Cougar

A galaxy of stars from the Cougars' past were honored guests at the meet, as UH President Arthur K. Smith dedicated the state-of-the-art track and field facility named after former Cougar coach Tellez and UH alumnus Carl Lewis.

Distinguished guests Mary and Roy Cullen, whose generous donation from the Cullen Foundation helped make the new facilities possible, also participated in the dedication ceremonies.

Tellez was enshrined in the Track and Field Hall of Fame as a coach in 1998.

Lewis, arguably the greatest athlete in American track and field history, won nine Olympic gold medals during his brilliant career.

On this day, no Cougar shined more brilliantly than senior Jeff Mueller did when he out-dueled T. J. Jumper of Illinois to capture first place in the high jump as the track meet approached its conclusion. 

The Conference USA Indoor and Outdoor defending champion erupted like a solar flare as he arched gracefully over the bar set at 7 feet, 2.5 inches. 

When he fell back to earth, the Cougars had the lead for the first time in the meet and Mueller had earned an automatic trip to the NCAA championships.

Just as important as Mueller's leap was Jorge Rodriguez's stellar effort, which forged a tie with Jumper for second place. 

Rodriguez's fine effort prevented the Illini from staying within striking distance of the Cougars as the final event of the meet unfolded moments later.

The Cougar men's 4x400-meter relay team secured the victory for its teammates when it edged the Fighting Illini by four seconds in a thrilling climax to the days events.

It was a day of magnificent comebacks for the Cougar men. Senior Will Blackburn saved his best for last as he outgunned Texas A & M's Kyle Caskey on his final throw to capture the discus with a toss of 162-06.

Freshman Shane Turnpin launched a 51-3.75 effort in the shot put, edging Sam Houston State's Clint Callaher to capture first place and score 10 points for the Cougars. 

Turpin also placed third in the discus as the outstanding freshman scored 16 points for the Cougars in two events.

UH head coach Leroy Burrell summed up his team's performance: "We didn't win a lot of events, but we were well-rounded enough to capture the win."

Rob Huwar/The Daily Cougar

Four Cougars came in second in their event to help the team win its first outdoor meet of the season. 

C-USA Indoor Freshman of the Year Robert Foster placed second in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the 100-meter dash. Senior Anthony Aurthurlee finished second in the 400-meter dash.

In the most exciting race of the day, the 800-meter dash, senior Karim Alston roared down the back stretch like a shooting star, rapidly closing in on the leader, Floyd Thompson of Baylor, as they neared the finish line. 

Alston ran out of track as Thompson hung on to win by a mere four hundredths of a second.

Sophomore Mike Olague returned to the track for the first time since sustaining a hip injury. Olague finished third in the 3,000-meter run. He's making progress back to the form that made him one of the premier runners in C-USA cross country this year.

Alex Herman claimed third place in the shot put and fifth place in the discus to score important points for the Cougars.

Senior Ketric Sanford, better-known for his record-shattering football career at UH, was one of four Cougars to score points in the 100-meter dash, and also placed sixth in the 200-meter dash.

Sanford led the Cougar sprinters with a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash, followed closely by Foster, Jason Hodge and Arman Hoyle.

Also scoring important points in the Cougar men's victory were Omar Leon in the steeplechase, Adonis Coles and Greg Christie in the 110-meter high hurdles, Ron Pascucci in the 1,500-meter run, Sean Clayton in the triple jump and Mike Brookens in the pole vault.

Christie also placed fourth in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

The Cougar women were eclipsed by the men's performance as the thin squad finished fourth in the five-team field.

"The women seemed flat today for some reason," Burrell said.

Two-time All-American Jenny Adams danced the light fantastic as she soared 21 feet to capture first place in the long jump. 

Akilah Carter's 17-3.5 leap was good for fifth place in this classic track and field event.

Rhian Clarke edged closer to the awesome 13 feet barrier as she soared 12-10.25 to win the pole vault.

Freshman Kim Stallman placed fourth in the pole vault with a commendable 10-4 effort.

Dawn Charlier demonstrated why she's one of the premier runners on the team as she ran an excellent race to finish second in the 3,000-meter run. 

Senior Stacy Poole continued her comeback from the injuries that kept her from running during the indoor season with a sixth-place finish in the 3,000-meter run.

Theoddoesha Rivers blazed around the track in a time 53.60 seconds to finish second in the 400-meter dash.

LaToska Reed, Jackie Rzepecki, Karina Quesada, Tiana Smith, Lauren Smith, LaToya Reed, Serina McFarland and Deonna Brown all scored points for the women in the initial outdoor meet of the track and field season.

"We've got a lot to be happy about. We accomplished our goals, now we'll move 

on to the Texas Relays (in Austin), where we've really got to run to make a good showing," Burrell said.