Samuels, Burks jump their way into national spotlight

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 school outdoor triple jump record, she already owned the indoor school record. But coming into the meet she had broken her own record, setting the new mark at 13.53m.

At the conference meet Burks had a strong chance to win, or at least medal, in the triple jump but fouled out after pulling a muscle in her leg. But the injury has not kept Burks from declaring from the NCAA West Regional in Austin on May 25.

There she will be competing in both the long jump and the triple jump where she has the No. 8 and No. 6 best marks in the region.

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