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ABOUT THE TYSON INVITATIONAL
Friday’s action at the Tyson Invitational opens with the women’s pole vault at 1 p.m., while the college division of the women’s mile kicks off running events at 2:15 p.m. Invitational running events begin with the men’s 60-meter hurdles prelims at 4:45 p.m.
Saturday will see the conclusion of the field events beginning at 11 a.m., with the women’s pole vault, while the second day of running action kicks off at 2 p.m., with the men’s 200-meter dash.
Including the Cougar men’s team, 15 squads ranked among the top-25 in the NCAA will be in action at the Tyson Invitational. The list on the men’s side includes No. 6 Arkansas, No. 9 Virginia Tech, No. 11 Indiana, No. 13 Houston, No. 14 Colorado, No. 16 Texas, No. 22 Florida State, No. 23 Kansas and No. 24 Auburn. On the women’s side, the ranked teams will feature No. 1 Arkansas, No. 7 LSU, No. 9 Texas, No. 14 Missouri, No. 16 Baylor and No. 23 Indiana.
A handful of nationally ranked sprinters will be in action for Houston at the Tyson Invitational, including senior Elijah Hall, who holds the No. 3 time in the NCAA in the 60-meter dash at 6.60 while also ranking No. 4 in the 200-meter dash at a school-record mark of 20.51. Hall will be joined by Mario Burke (36th; 6.71) and Joe Williams (73rd; 6.77) in the 60 and Jacarias Martin (39th; 21.33) and Amere Lattin (49th; 21.29) in the 200.
Lattin will also be in action in the 60-meter hurdles, where the Cougars enter a pair of ranked competitors. Lattin’s season-best time of 7.80 in the men’s hurdles ranks him 17th in the NCAA this season, while on the women’s side, freshman Naomi Taylor sits 47th in the nation at 8.38.
Elsewhere in the sprints, sophomore Brianne Bethel is scheduled to compete in each of the women’s 60- and 200-meter dashes. Bethel enters with the No. 32 time in the 60 at 7.37 while ranking 46th in the 200 at 23.78.
Junior Kahmari Montgomery rounds out Houston’s ranked sprinters in the men’s 400-meter dash. Montgomery clocked the third-fastest time in school history at the Charlie Thomas Invitational, when he cross the line in 46.28 to move to No. 10 in the NCAA.
Cameron Laverty enters the weekend as the nation’s No. 55 half-miler, after clocking a 1:50.77 in the 800-meter run at the Charlie Thomas Invitational. In the women’s distance, Maddie Brown enters as the 57th ranked student-athlete in the 3,000-meter run after winning the event in 16:53.99, the second-fastest time in school history.
Houston will have a trio of ranked competitors entering the horizontal jumps at the Tyson, including Tonye’cia Burks, who enters ranked No. 22 in the women’s triple jump with a top mark of 42-4.75 (12.92m) and holds a season best of 19-7.0 (5.97m) to rank 54th in the long jump.
Sophomore Samiyah Samuels leapt to a new personal best of 20-2.25 (6.15m) at the Charlie Thomas Invitational, and she enters action on the weekend ranked No. 19 in the NCAA in the event. Antwan Dickerson will be in action on the men’s side of the long jump, entering with the nation’s 39th best mark at a personal-best 24-7.75 (7.51m).
ABOUT THE HOWIE RYAN INVITATIONAL
Action at the Howie Ryan Invitational begins with the women’s weight throw and the women’s long jump at 11 a.m. The opening gun will sound on the running events at 1 p.m., to signal the start of the women’s 60-meter hurdles, with the meet scheduled to wrap up with the women’s and men’s 4x400-meter relay at 7:20 p.m.
Junior multi-athlete Sebastian Russi highlights an impressive list of athletes in action at the Howie Ryan Invitational. Russi enters with the 57th best heptathlon score in the NCAA this season, with 5,011 points at the Houston Invitational and is set to compete in the 60-meter hurdles and long jump.
