Houston Travels to American Indoor Championship (COOGS WIN Men's and Women's Titles)

The Houston men were led by six individual titles on Saturday as Kahmari Montgomery (400-meter dash), Felipe Valencia (shot put), Mario Burke (60-meter dash), Obi Igbokwe (200-meter dash), Amere Lattin (60-meter hurdles) and the men’s 4x400-meter relay each claimed titles to go along with Trumaine Jefferson’s long jump win on Friday.
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On the women’s side, Houston added three individual titles as Naomi Taylor (60-meter hurdles), Brianne Bethel (200-meter dash) and the 4x400-meter relay stood atop the podium Saturday joining the Friday titles from Taylor Scaife in the weight throw and Samiyah Samuels in the long jump.
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Montgomery clocked a 2019 world-leading time of 45.04 in the 400 to move up to No. 9 on the NCAA’s all-time performance list and better both his own Houston, American Championships and Birmingham Crossplex facility records.
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Montgomery was joined on the podium by junior Jermaine Holt who claimed silver in the event with a time of 46.76. Frederick Lewisalso gave Houston four team points by finishing fifth in the event with a PR of 47.44.
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The title run got off to a quick start Saturday morning as Valencia returned atop the shot put podium for the second time in his career. After claiming the crown as a freshman in 2016, Valencia won in wire-to-wire fashion Saturday, finishing with a winning throw of 60-4.00 (18.39) on his second attempt and beating the field by over a foot.
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Houston also picked up two team points in the shot put from freshman Triston Gibbons who finished seventh with a throw of 53-9.75 (16.40).
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Lattin claimed his third straight 60-meter hurdles title, and gave Houston its fifth straight title in the event, with a time of 7.84. Joining Lattin on the podium and giving Houston a bright future was freshman Devion Wilson who ran a PR of 7.92 to finish third. Sophomore Quivell Jordan finished just behind, equaling his PR of 8.03 to finish fourth overall.
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_On the women’s side of the 60-meter hurdles, one day after breaking Houston’s record in the event, Taylor gave Houston its first women’s title of the day by running away from the field with a time of 8.21. _
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Staying on the short track, Burke clocked a time of 6.62 to give him a second American title in the event, having won in 2017, and kept Houston’s undefeated streak in the event alive, having claimed all six titles in the league’s existence.
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Burke was joined on the podium by junior Travis Collins who ran a time of 6.72 while Nicholas Alexander equaled his PR of 6.73 to finish fourth. John Lewis III gave Houston points with a sixth-place finish in 6.83 while Edward Sumler IV was seventh with a time of 6.84.
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With six of the eight finalist spots in men’s 200-meter dash finals belonging to Houston, it was no surprise to see an all-Houston podium as Igbokwe, Burke and Alexander took the top three spots. Igbokwe’s time of 20.84 edged Burke’s 21.05 and Alexander’s 21.15. Sumler took fifth with a time of 21.38 while Jordan Booker was seventh in 21.52 and Lattin was eighth in 22.04.
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It was a Houston sweep in the 200 as Bethel ran away from the field with a PR of 23.12, breaking The American Championship record in the event, and finishing just one-hundredth of a second off the Houston record of 23.11 in the event. The time moved Bethel up to No. 15 nationally as she was joined in the finals by sophomore Birexus Hawkins who finished seventh with a time of 24.67.
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Houston closed out the weekend with a sweep in the 4x400-meter relay as both the Houston men and women set American Championships record. First the quartet of Payge Side, Hawkins, Jazmyn Tilford-Rutherford and Bethel snapped UConn’s five-year old meet record with a time of 3:37.82.
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_The foursome of Lewis, Jordan, Burke and Holt combined to clock a time of 3:09.99, breaking Houston’s own year-old record in the event. _
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A second Saturday morning field event gave Houston 8.5 more points in the team race as junior Brendon Rivera cleared a personal-best height of 6-11.00 (2.11) in the high jump to claim bronze and senior Colin George cleared 6-9.50 (2.07) to finish sixth.
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Nathaniel Mechler closed out his two-day competition in the heptathlon with eight points from a second-place finish in the event, totaling 5,508 points after finishing second in the 60-meter hurdles and pole vault before a fourth-place finish in the 1,000-meter run.
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Hawkins clocked a season-best time of 54.07 to claim silver in the women’s 400-meter dash and give Houston eight valuable points in the team race.
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The women’s 60-meter dash saw two Houston competitors clock PRs and give the Cougars 13 points as Bethel took silver with a time of 7.30 and Tristan Evelyn was fourth in a time of 7.44.
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Freshman Christian Gilmore clocked a PR in the 800-meter run and contributed four team points as he finished the four-lap race fifth in a time of 1:50.71.
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A day after finishing third in the weight throw, Priscilla Adejokun returned to the throws circle on Saturday and gave Houston four additional points by taking fifth in the women’s shot put with a top throw of 49-7.00 (15.11).
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One day after finishing fifth in the pentathlon, sophomore Hawa Wague contributed to the Houston score again as she finished in a three-way tie for seventh in the high jump, clearing 5-5.00 (1.65).
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The first running event to claim points for Houston took place shortly after, as Britani Gonzales clocked a PR of 4:57.17 to finish seventh in the mile.

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Bethel’s leg in the 4x400 was epic.

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Big time indoor 200m by Tech runner. Check it out.