April 2, 2006

Houston, Texas - Senior Jonathan Reeves won the discus throw and Krystal Ward qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships with a second place finish in the high jump to lead the University of Houston men's and women's track and field teams at the Rice University Bayou Classic on Saturday, April 1.

Reeves registered his third straight victory in the discus competition with a throw of 54.12 meters (177-7). He opened the 2006 outdoor season with victories at the TSU Relays with a career-best throw of 55.46 meters (181-11) on March 25 and at the UT-San Antonio Relays on March 18 with a mark of 52.86 meters (173' 5").

Ward cleared 1.75 meters (5-8.75) for a second-place finish in the high jump after she advanced to the NCAA Championships last season. She also had a third-place showing in the javelin with a throw of 39.05 meters (128-1). An All-America heptathlete, Ward will compete in the heptathlon for the first time this season at the Texas Relays on April 5-6.

Houston also had two other runner-up finishes in the women's division at the Bayou Classic. Rachel Easley was the runner up in the long jump with a leap of 5.86 meters (19-2.75) and the Cougars also registered a second-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay as Jennifer Hunt, Jennifer Harper, Adriane Guinn and Oumama Hallal combined for a time of 3:57.96.

Harper also had a fourth-place showing in the 800 meters with a time of 2:14.06, while Guinn finished in sixth place with a time of 2:15.43.

Amanda Villanueva had a throw of 44.64 meters (146-5) for a third-place finish in the women's discus.

In addition to Reeves winning the men's discus throw, Ivan Diggs equaled his season-best mark and finished in second place after clearing 2.05 meters (6-8.75) in the high jump.

Lucas Mireles also had a fourth-place finish in the men's shot put with a mark of 16.12 meters (52-10.75).

Houston also had three distance runners compete at the Stanford Invitational as Sesar Figueroa was the runner-up in the 1,500 meters with a season-best time of 1:49.63. Calum Neff had a time of 9:19.96 in the steeplechase to finish in 12th place and Cole Dailey had a time of 30:10.14 in the 10,000 meters.