March 16, 2004

University of Houston Sports Information March 16, 2004 For Immediate Release

This Week: The University of Houston men's and women's track and field teams will open the 2004 outdoor season at the 53rd Annual Texas Southern Relays on March 19-20, 2003 at Rice University Track and Field Complex.

Houston won the Conference USA men's indoor track and field championships on February 27-28. The Lady Cougars finished third at the C-USA meet.

UH won three relay events and had eight individual champions, six second-place finishes and eight third-place finishes at the 2003 TSU Relays. Houston's defending men's champions include Daniel Patton (pole vault), Sesar Figueroa (1500 meters), Milton Manson (110-meter hurdles) and Derek Randall (shot put).

In the women's division, Tinisha Wesley is a defending champion in both the shot put and discus events.

Last Week: 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field All-American Stanford Routt was Houston's lone competitor at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. on March 12-13. Routt just missed advancing to the finals of the 200-meter dash by .007 of a second.

Routt had a time of 20.98 seconds in the second heat of the 200-meter preliminaries, while David Neville of Indiana had a time of 20.973 seconds in the third heat. Routt also had a time of 6.74 seconds in the prelims of the 60-meter dash.

What's Next: After the TSU Relays, Houston will travel to Baton Rouge, La., and compete in the LSU Relays on March 26-27.