March 21, 2002

This Week
The University of Houston men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Austin, Texas, and compete in the Longhorn Invitational. Houston will be competing against men's and women's teams from Texas, Texas A&M, Texas-San Antonio and Texas Tech.

The one-day meet will begin with field events at 11:00 a.m. and running events will start at 1:30 p.m.

Head Coach Leroy Burrell
University of Houston head coach Leroy Burrell was named the Conference USA women's indoor track and field Coach Of The Year in 2002 after leading Houston to its second C-USA Indoor Championship. He also was named the C-USA women's outdoor track and field Coach Of The Year in 2000 after leading Houston to the team championship.

Burrell, who is in his third season as the head men's and women's track and field coach at Houston, also was named the C-USA indoor and outdoor men's track and field Coach Of The Year in 1999 and 2000 after leading the Cougars to four team titles.

He began his coaching career after a world-class track career as a sprinter and long jumper. Burrell was a nine-time All-American at Houston, a two-time Olympian, held the world record in the 100 meters twice and was ranked as the world's top 100-meter sprinter in 1990 and 1991.

Last Meet
Houston opened its 2002 Outdoor Season at the Texas A&M College Station Relays on March 14-16.

The Lady Cougars won five events at the meet. Lauren Smith won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.86 seconds and finished third in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:02.47. Aisha Morgan won the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.92 seconds and Crystal Freeman won the 400 meters in 57.08 seconds.

Houston also won both relay events with a time of 45.48 seconds in the 4x100-meter relay and 3:45.81 in the 4x400-meter relay.

Jasmin Jackson finished second in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 10 1/4 inches. Krystal Ward was also the runner-up in the bronze decathlon with 4,965 points.

The top performers for the Cougars men's squad were Robert Foster and Andrew Carruthers. Foster opened the outdoor campaign with a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.67 seconds.

Foster also ran the second leg on Houston's 4x100-meter relay the was second in 41.44 seconds. The other members of the relay team were Fred Day, Arman Hoyle, and Jason Hodge.

Carruthers was second in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.97 seconds. He also finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.97 seconds.

Jason Myers finished third and Daniel Patton was fourth in the pole vault with a mark of 15 feet, 5 inches. Brandon Bray also was third in the long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 4 3/4 inches.

Next Meet
Following the Longhorn Invitational, Houston will return home and host its only outdoor home meet this year on March 30. The Tom Tellez Invitational will include men's and women's teams from Baylor, LSU, Kansas State and Texas A&M. In addition, the Texas Men's squad will also compete.

The Tellez Invitational will begin with field events at 10:00 a.m. and running events start at 1:00 p.m.