May 26, 2006

Final Stats

Austin, Texas - Carey LaCour and Ebonie Floyd each won their heats in the 200 meters and Preston Perry posted the fourth-fastest time in the men's 100-meter dash to lead the University of Houston men's and women's track and field teams on the first day of the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships.

LaCour won the first heat in the men's 200-meter dash as he posted the fastest preliminary time overall with a wind-aided 20.60 seconds, as he out-dueled Jamaal Charles of Texas, who finished with a time of 20.69 seconds. Their times came with a wind reading of +2.9 meters per second.

Floyd won the first heat of the women's 200 meters with a wind-aided time of 22.70 seconds that was with a wind of +3.0. She sprinted ahead of LaTasha Kerr of Texas in the final 100 meters of the race as Kerr finished with a time of 23.00. Floyd's winning time was four-hundredths of a second slower than her career best time she set earlier this season at the Conference USA Championships.

In the women's 100-meter dash, Floyd advanced to the finals with the second-fastest time in the third heat with 11.36 seconds and a legal wind of 1.4 seconds. Her time was the fifth fastest overall time. In the second heat, LaDedra Guy posted the fourth-fastest time with 11.56 with a wind of +4.2 meters per second. She had the 13th fastest overall time.

Floyd also ran the anchor leg and teamed with Octavia Garrett, LaDedra Guy and Seun Adigun in the women's 4x100-meter relay that posted the third-fastest time in school history. The Cougars had the second-fastest overall time in the second heat with 44.07 seconds and bettered their previous best time this season by over three-tenths of a second. The team's previous best time was 44.38 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational on April 22.

Texas was the only team with a faster time than Houston, winning the second heat in 43.03 seconds. TCU won the first heat in 44.21 seconds to automatically qualify. The other teams advancing to Saturday's final are: Kansas State, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma and Sam Houston State.

In addition to winning his 200-meter heat, LaCour also ran the anchor leg on Houston's men 4x100-meter relay team that won the third heat with a season-best time of 39.48 seconds. He combined with Vincent Marshall, Preston Perry and Tremaine Smith as they improved over their previous best time of 39.49 seconds. Texas A&M won the first heat in 39.18 seconds and Texas won the second in 39.25 seconds. The other schools that qualified were UTEP, Nebraska, TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma.

In the men's 100-meter prelims, Perry had the second fastest time in the first of three heats with a time of 10.25 seconds with a wind of +3.0 meters per second. Texas A&M's Tyrone Edgar won the heat in 10.11 seconds. Perry's time was the fourth-overall fastest time.

Perry also had the sixth-fastest overall time in the 200 meters as he finished in second in the second of four heats with his best legal time of the season, 20.73 seconds. Texas-Arlington's Jared Connaughton won the heat in 20.70 seconds with a wind of 1.9 meters per second.

In the women's high jump, former All-America heptathlete Krystal Ward equaled her career best jump and finished in sixth place after clearing 1.81 meters (5' 11 ¾"). Ward also cleared the height at the Conference USA Championships earlier this season.

Rachel Easley finished in ninth place after she cleared 1.76 meters (5' 9¼"). Easley also tied for 21st place in the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 5.83 meters (19' 1 ½") in her third and final jump of the competition. Her jump was aided by a wind reading of +3.3.

Caresir Hamilton finished in 23rd place in the women's long jump with a mark of 5.54 meters (18' 2 ¼") with a wind of +4.2 meters per second on her second jump. Hamilton will compete in the triple jump on Saturday.

Jonathan Reeves finished seven overall in the men's discus with a throw of 56.02 meters (183' 9"). He will compete in the shot put on Saturday.

Before running in the 4x100-meter relay, Vincent Marshall had a 14th-place finish in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.38 meters (24' 2½"). It was his second-best overall jump and longest legal jump of the season.

Later, Marshall pulled up in the second heat of the 100 meters and finished sixth with a wind-aided time of 10.44 seconds in the second heat. His time ranked 15th overall.

Sesar Figueroa just missed making the final of the men's 1500-meter run as he closed out his collegiate career with the sixth-fastest time of the second heat, 3:53.67. Figueroa led the heat through the third lap, but was overtaken in the final 300 meters of the race.

In the women's 100-meter hurdles, Alexis Rogers had a season-best time of 13.66 seconds with a wind of +2.6 to finish fourth in the second of three heats. Adigun was disqualified in the heat. Melaine Walker of Texas won the heat in 12.96 seconds.