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Eight Cougars Austin-bound for NCAA meet

Routt looks to cap stellar '04 season with strong showing in 200m

By Tony Hernandez
The Daily Cougar

As the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships get under way Wednesday in Austin, UH will be sending eight hopefuls to represent Houston after finishing strong at the regional championships.

The national championships will run through Saturday. Among the eight, junior Stanford Routt, ranked No. 1 in the nation for the men's 200-meter dash, heads to Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas. 

Routt defended his Midwest Regional Championship title in late May at Texas A&M with a time of 20.03 seconds. 

Junior Krystal Ward and freshman LaDedra Guy will both arrive at the meet ranked No. 11 in the nation. 

Ward will participate in the heptathlon entering the event with a career-best 5,329 points. Ward finished first at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational in April. 

Guy will be coming to the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.40 seconds. Her best finish this season was at the Tom Tellez Invitational with a second-place finish in the 100- and 200-meter events.

Freshman Carey LaCour will join Routt in the 200-meter event as the No. 14 seed. In the high jump, freshman Tristian Whitley comes to the meet ranked No. 13, a seed he earned with a 2.20-meter jump at the Midwest Regionals. In the 110-meter hurdles, junior Andrew Carruthers will enter the event with a time of 13.97 seconds -- the 25th best time in the competition.

Wednesday and Thursday's events will mostly consist of preliminaries and qualifiers; most finals will be held Friday and Saturday.

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