May 10, 2002

Louisville, Ky.- - The University of Houston women's track and field team recorded three victories in the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Louisville, Ky.

Rhian Clarke won her sixth C-USA pole vault title to put Houston in the team lead through eight events with 57 team points. Clarke won the event and tied her C-USA meet record of 12 feet, 5 ½ inches.

The Lady Cougars have a two-point lead over Marquette in the team standings through nine events. South Florida is third with 47 ½ points and Louisville is fourth with 37 points, Tulane fifth with 34 points and Southern Mississippi sixth with 30 points.

Freshman Krystal Ward won the women's decathlon with 5,193 points. She scored 146 points more than second-place finisher Laura Valldeperas of Cincinnati. Houston's Briana Bassler was in third place with 4,850 points and Lindsay Cobbs was sixth with 4,477 points.

Jasmin Jackson won the women's long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 3 inches and will join Aisha Morgan in Saturday's 100-meter final.

Morgan had the second-fastest time in the preliminaries with 11.58 seconds. She finished behind Monica Twum of TCU, who had a time of 11.53 seconds. Jackson had the ninth fastest time of 11.84 seconds. She finished 8/1000 of a second faster than Charlyn Ray of Cincinnati to make the final.

Morgan also advanced to the finals of the 200 meters with a time of 23.67 seconds after winning the first heat of the preliminaries with the second fastest overall time.

Freshman Tinisha Wesley finished sixth in the women's discus with a throw of 137 feet, 7 inches and scored four points in the team standings.

Courtnie Ratliff had the fastest qualifying time for Saturday's final in the women's 400-meter dash with a season-best time of 53.81 seconds. Crystal Freeman also advanced to the finals of the 400 meters as she also had her season-best time of 55.72 seconds.

Three Lady Cougars also qualified for the finals of the 1500 meters as Julie Perez had the fifth-fastest time of 4:37.81. Vanessa Golston had the 10th-fastest time with 4:39.70 as she finished just ahead of teammate Kelly McCarty, who had a time of 4:40.88.

Defending 100-meter hurdles champion Lauren Smith had the fastest qualifying time with 13.57 seconds. It was her fastest legal time this season as she had a wind-aided mark of 13.48 seconds earlier this year. Joining her in the finals on Saturday will be Alicia Cave and Magenta Taylor. Cave had the second-fastest time in the preliminaries with 13.80 seconds and Taylor was sixth overall with a time of 14.42 seconds.

Smith also qualified for the finals of the 200 meters with a time of 24.12 seconds.

Cave also qualified for the finals of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.67 seconds. Monica De La Haya also qualified in the 400-meter hurdles as her time of 1:01.76 was the third fastest in the preliminaries.

In the C-USA Men's Championships, Houston is in fifth place through the first six events with 23 points. Defending team champion Cincinnati leads the team standings with 37 points. Charlotte is in second place with 35 points, while DePaul has 33 points for third place. TCU is in fourth place with 28 points.

Adam Callahan was Houston's top finisher on Friday as he finished in second place in the decathlon with a career-best 6,783 points.

Callahan's second-place finish gave Houston eight points in the men's standings.

Jason Edwards also scored five points as he finished fourth in the men's long jump with a career-best leap of 24 feet, 8 ½ inches.

In the men's 100-meter preliminaries, Houston advanced two runners to Saturday's final. Fred Day had the fifth fastest time with 10.41 seconds and Jessie Grove had the ninth fastest time with 10.55 seconds. However, defending C-USA champion Robert Foster did not make it in the finals as he finished with the 10th-fastest time in the preliminaries with 10.61 seconds.

After his disappointing finish, Foster came back and qualified for the 200-meter finals with a time of 20.91 seconds. Stanford Routt also qualified for the 200-meter final with a time of 21.16 seconds.

Freshmen Milton Manson and Andrew Carruthers qualified for the 110-meter hurdles finals. Manson had the fourth-fastest time of 14.27 seconds and Carruthers was sixth overall in the preliminaries with a time of 14.44 seconds.

Carruthers also won the first heat of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.23 seconds and qualified for the finals. Two-time 400-meter hurdles champion Greg Christie also qualified for the finals as he won the second heat with a time of 52.33 seconds.