The Sub 9 Club

As a boy growing up in Barbados it would have been impossible to avoid following the success' of Usain Bolt. The Jamaican sprinter has captured the world's imagination for the last nine years and is arguably the greatest sprinter of all time. Bolt announced that the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London would be his final competition, so everyone in the track & field world is waiting to see if someone can beat Bolt in his last race. Among those vying for Bolt's crown is Barbados' own Mario Burke. The rising junior for the Cougars has been getting primed for international competition these last two years. After missing out on the Olympics last summer, Burke is ready for his first senior level international meet. Burke punched his ticket to London by becoming the Barbados 100m national champion with a time of 10.12s. This after a season where Burke not only found success in the relay, helping the Cougars win the NCAA 4x100m national championship, but indivi

I know I stated this blog was dedicated to covering solely UH track and field, but there are things I've wanted to say and I have no other medium in which to publish it. I first learned of Tennessee's Christian Coleman when I went to interview Leroy Burrell for a feature about how Cameron Burrell had the countries fastest 60m time. It was then Coach Burrell informed me that actually Coleman had the top time. That day I learned how fast news changes in the track and field world. But I didn't think anything of it. I had seen what Burrell did the season prior, running 6.48s in the NCAA final and losing. I thought if he could run anything close to that time then he would be an NCAA champion. And for most of the season I had no reason to think otherwise. Burrell's time kept improving as the meets progressed. Coleman still had the top time at 6.51s, but I thought that was just one race he had run and that he wouldn't match it at the final. As the cha

Of the Cougars competing at their respective countries track and field championships this weekend, sophomore Mario Burke and junior Eli Hall-Thompson have punched their tickets to the IAAF World Championships in London this August. Mario Burke became the Barbados national champion in the 100m by running 10.12s in the final on Saturday. He followed up that performance with a time of 20.60s in the 200m Sunday evening. Burke’s time placed him in third place. For Burke, his qualifying for Worlds is the culmination of goals he set at the start of the season. After medaling for Barbados in consecutive summers at the U-20 level, the 2015 CARIFTA Games and 2016 IAAF U20 World Championships, it was Burke’s goal to represent his country at Worlds. Burke had already helped Barbados qualify for Worlds in the 4x100m earlier this year at the IAAF World Relays. There Barbados finished second behind Team USA. With the experience of competing at both the Indoor and Outdoor NCAA Cha

This Thursday marks the starts of the NCAA West Regional in Austin, Texas. 21 Athletes between the men and women will be competing in nine events and over the three days of competition. All the athletes have to do is place in the top 12 of their respective events to qualify for the NCAA West Regional. The following standings are where the declared athletes and relay teams sit on the NCAA West standings. Men The Cougars come into Austin with six athletes qualified in the sprinting events, three of them in the top ten. 100m Eli Hall-Thompson - 2nd (10.00s) Mario Burke - 9th (10.17s) Cameron Burrell - 19th (10.25s) John Lewis III - 24th (10.27s) 200m Eli Hall-Thompson - 1st (19.96s) Mario Burke - 13th (20.52s) Jacarias Martin - 15th (20.52s) 110H Amere Lattin - 10th (13.73s) 400H Amere Lattin - 14th (50.81s) Long Jump Trumaine Jefferson - 9th (7.87m) Antwan Dickerson - 10th (7.86m) Triple Jump Jared Kerr - 17th (15.77m) Shot Pu

Please take a look at my article at TheDailyCougar.com remembering the impact of Australian Olympic medalist Al Lawrence on the running community at both the university and the city of Houston. Cornerstone running coach passes away at 86

At the 2017 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships, sophomore Trumaine Jefferson and juniors Jared Kerr and Antwan Dickerson went 1-3 in the men's long jump. That day the men won their third straight conference title by 62.5 points, the three of them scored 24 of them from that one event. At the Outdoor Championships all three again found their way to the podium. The only difference was that they medaled in separate events. After winning the indoor long jump, Jefferson came back and won the outdoor long jump with a distance of 7.87m. In addition to scoring ten points for his team, the mark was a new personal best by an entire meter. His performance moved Jefferson into a tie for No. 16 nationally and cemented his spot at No. 9 in the NCAA West Region. Dickerson ended up coming just short of his teammate with a personal best of 7.86m, one half inch short of Jefferson's mark. He will join Jefferson in Austin for regionals with the No. 10 best mark in the NCAA

In 2016, Amere Lattin qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in both the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles. He ended up placing fifth in the 100H final with a time of 13.80s. His performance earned Lattin the chance to represent the United States at the IAAF World U20 Championships that summer. There he won a silver medal in the 110H, but once he came back to Houston his entire mindset has been on getting back to Oregon. "It makes me keep my head down, keep grinding," Lattin said on his performance at the NCAA Championships. "Becuase I'm fifth I'm not first. And when I become first I still won't rest, I've got to keep it. It makes me keep shooting for what I want, which is to be an NCAA champion." In his freshman season, Lattin used the success of winning the AAC Outdoor 110H and 400H championships to propel himself onto the national stage. In his sophomore campaign, Lattin was coming off an indoor season where he earned a trip to the NC

At the American Athletic Conference Championship the women track & field team finished seventh with 70 points. Several athletes placed in the top 3 of their respective events, but only one managed to win it. Freshman Samiyah Samuels entered the championships ranked behind junior Tonye'cia Burks in the long jump. But on the day Samuels jumped a championship meet record 6.58m to win the women's long jump. In contrast, Cincinnati's Kellsa Mbah jumped 6.32m in second place, almost an entire foot short of Samuels. Her jump is now No. 8 in the NCAA and No. 2 in the NCAA West, behind only Sydney Conley of Kansas. In addition, Samuels will be running on the 4x100m relay. At the conference meet she ran the anchor leg for the team that finished second with a 44.35s run. World class jumper In the long jump, Burks finished fifth with a 6.04m jump. But she was expected to perform well in the triple jump, her specialty. Burks had opened her season by breaking the

Eight one-thousandths of a second. Eight one-thousandths of a second were what separated freshman sprinter Brianne Bethel from being a dual conference champion. The international student from the Bahamas entered the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championship with the goal of helping lead the women to their first conference title in over a decade. Ultimately the women fell short of their goal, but Bethel managed to reach the podium three times over the course of the weekend. Coming into the meet, Bethel was already having a very strong season. She had returned to the Bahamas in April to represent her home country at the IAAF World Relays. There Bethel helped the Bahamas 4x100m relay team qualify for the IAAF World Championships in London this August. So coming into the championship meet, hosted by the Cougars, she was not short of confidence. The meet was a way for her to show she could have success individually as well as on a team. In the 100m preliminary races the C

At the 2016 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, LeShon Collins was named the Track Athlete of the Meet after he won the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. That year the Cougar men won the conference title by a total of 55 points. This year the Cougars won by 44.50 points, 40 of which came from the contribution of junior sprinter Eli Hall-Thompson. Hall-Thompson, the NJCAA national champion, started championship Sunday on the anchor leg for the men's 4x100m relay. Along with junior Cameron Burrell and sophomore's Mario Burke and Jacarias Martin, the four won the race in a meet record 38.70s, a whole second faster than the runners up Connecticut. Then in the individual sprinting events, Hall-Thompson came into the final with the fastest 100m and 200m preliminary times. In the 100m he ran 10.11s and in the 200m he ran 20.40s. In the 100m final, running into a headwind, he nearly matched his preliminary time with a run of 10.19s. His time wa

Freshman Nathaniel Mechler started the weekend right for the Cougar track & field team. Hosting the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, Mechler, sophomore Sebastian Russi and seniors Christopher Morales and Emiliano Troitino were the first Cougars to perform as competitors in the men's decathlon. Mechler came into the weekend with the No. 2 best score in the conference, 7255 points, behind only Alex Bloom of Cincinnati. Mechler, Bloom and Connecticut's Patrick Meyer all had points in the 7000 range. The opportunity was there for all three to hit 7500 and automatically qualify for the NCAA national championships. The day started with the 100m dash and Mechler came out with the fastest time, 10.96s. From there he went on to the long jump competition where he finished fifth with a best 6.83m jump. Morales came in sixth with a 6.58m jump. The two once again finished fifth and sixth respectively in the shot put. Mechler had a best 12.26m throw w

In 2016 the Cincinnati Bearcats' women’s track & field team won the American Outdoor Championships with a point total of 111. The Cougars only managed to score 66 points and finish eighth. The goal of the coaching staff recruiting wise was to bring in talent that could get the women back to a competitive level. It has been over ten years since the Cougars last won a conference title, but this season they are closer than they have been in years. The women come into the meet with the top times/marks in five events, and top five places in ten events. Their performances have the women believing they have the talent to win their first team championship since 2006. “Quite honestly we’ve got a really strong group,” Head Coach Leroy Burrell said. “We don’t have as much depth of coverage in events, but certainly the group is capable of performing at a high level. So I expect them to fight.” Going back to the indoor season, this year’s class of freshmen have given an e

Last year the Cougar men were struggling to score points at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championship until they ran the sprint events. The Cougars went on to score 94 points in the sprints on their way to a record 203 points. One year later the Cougars are looking to not only continue their dominance in the sprints, but shut out the competition. A year ago the men owned six of the eight athletes in both the 100m and 200m finals. The squads had the top five and top four times respectively as they scored 34 points and 32 points. Now the Cougars’ goal is to own all eight runners in both finals. “There’s no reason why we can’t,” junior Cameron Burrell said. “We have a good group of guys who work really hard and this is what we train for. So we’re going to go and perform to the best of our ability. And if it happens to be six, seven, eight guys in the final then that’s what we’re going to do.” Burrell scored 34 points last year after placing third and second in

18.88m, that was senior Cameron Cornelius’ first mark of the outdoor season. Almost two months later it is still the top shot put distance in the American Athletic Conference. Now, after missing all of last season due to injury, Cornelius is on the doorstep of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. But before that, Cornelius will have to get through the competition at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships. This meet has been a spot of frustration for Cornelius in his first two seasons as he has yet to win an outdoor shot put title. Now after winning his third indoor title in as many seasons, Cornelius is looking to finally complete the double. “My freshman year and my sophomore year I thought I had it in the bag,” Cornelius said. “I had pretty big throws out there. I thought no one could catch me, I thought I was fine. But in the last rounds they did catch me. So it’s mainly thinking that I could have a two foot PR but it’s still not safe no matter what.

History was on the agenda as the Cougar men's track & field team started the final day of the Penn Relays. It had been 27 years since Head Coach Leroy Burrell set the 100m meet record at 10.10s and 28 years since the Cougars had won a relay at Penn. The Cougars were in prime position to make history in both events as three of their relay teams had qualified for their respective finals and three of the eight 100m finalists were members of the Cougar track & field team. Junior Eli Hall-Thompson qualified for the 100m final with the fastest time overall, 10.14s. He improved his time, running 10.00s to win the event. This marks the second straight 100m Penn Relays championship for the Cougars after LeShon Collins' victory in 2016. Were it not for the race taking place in non-legal wind conditions, Hall-Thompson's time would have been the new Penn record. His time is currently No. 5 in the country. Sophomore's Mario Burke and John Lewis III joined Hall-Thom

After a strong performance by the relay teams on Friday, the Cougars qualified all three of the men's sprint relay teams for the final on Saturday. The Cougars have put themselves in fine position to win a relay championship at Penn for the first time since Head Coach Leroy Burrell did it in 1989 with the 4x100m. On Friday the 4x100m relay team of junior Cameron Burrell, sophomores Mario Burke and Jacarias Martin and junior Eli Hall-Thompson ran a combined 39.28s. The toughest opponents for the Cougars were from the University of Auburn and the University of Oregon. Both teams came into the meet with the No. 7 and No. 10 relay times respectively. However the Cougars easily qualified for the final with the fastest preliminary time as both Auburn and Oregon ran 39.66s to tie for second place. Now they are looking to break the Penn Record of 38.68s and win the relays. Martin and Hall-Thompson got to run with the baton for the second time that day as members of the 4x200m rela

The Cougars 4x100m relay team is milliseconds away from the fastest time in the country. At the Penn Relays they might take that crown. To win at the Penn Relays means to win at the oldest track and field competition in the United States. Over 100,000 people will be in attendance at Franklin Field when the Cougar track and field team attends the Penn Relays this weekend. Head coach Leroy Burrell looks to lead his athletes to championships on the same stage where he set the 100m record back in 1990. As with all track meets, the relays dominate the weekend. The men's 4x100m relay team currently has the second best time in the country. At the Mt. SAC relays, the team of senior Cameron Burrell, sophomores Mario Burke and Jacarias Martin and junior Eli Hall-Thompson ran 38.59s, second only to Louisiana State University's 38.57s. The Cougars are confident they will be competing for a national title in the relays this June. Winning at Penn is just one more step toward that go

USA ran 38.43s in the 4x100m final to punch their ticket to London Three members of the UH track & field program received the chance to represent their country on the world stage. Sophomore Mario Burke, freshman Brianne Bethel, and Class of 2016 graduate LeShon Collins each received an invite to run at the IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas this weekend. Collins and Burke ended day 1 with a gold and a silver medal respectively after USA and Barbados came in first and second respectively. As members of the 4x100m relay teams the two have become the first to qualify for the IAAF World Championships in London this August. "It's the kind of thing we expect," UH Head Coach Leroy Burrell said. "We want to be successful in conference and then nationally. (We want to) produce a couple athletes that can compete at the international level and ultimately at the highest level of the game." For Collins, the multi-time All-American and conference champion, this

My view from groundlevel when Christian Coleman of Tennessee ran 6.45s, the fastest time ever, to beat UH's Cameron Burrell in the NCAA Indoor 60m national championship.

UH men have won three straight Indoor American Athletic Conference Championships The Sub 9 Club is a site dedicated to bringing you weekly news related to the men and women of the University of Houston track & field program.The home of Olympic gold medalists Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell and current international competitors LeShon Collins and Mario Burke. This site will bring you event news, player Q&A's, video segments (when I can get them), and profiles of major things going on with the team. The Cougar men are in the hunt for their second straight Outdoor American Athletic Conference Championship and fifth overall. The women, powered by a strong freshman class, are searching for their first conference championship in 11 years. The women finished third at the 2017 American Indoor Conference Championship, their first top 3 finish since 2014. ---- Photo Courtesy of UH Athletics