The University of Houston Track and Field team collected three field event wins on April 17 at the Tom Tellez Alumni Invitational, held at the Carl Lewis International Complex.
The meet saw several strong performances from Houston athletes. Ty Lott, a redshirt senior, achieved a personal best in the men’s hammer throw with a mark of 64.17 meters on his final attempt, moving up to third place on Houston’s all-time performance list. In the women’s pole vault, sophomore Evina Panagiotou took first place with a season-best mark of 4.23 meters. Four teammates—Arianna Peroni (graduate), Aubrey Tupper (senior), Nicole Prall (junior), and Kayla Byrd (sophomore)—tied for second place with marks of 3.88 meters; Peroni and Byrd also recorded personal bests that tie them for eighth all-time at Houston.
Graduate Canaan Wharry secured another victory for Houston in the men’s discus with a throw of 55.02 meters on his first attempt. Other notable finishes included senior Reese Pokluda taking second in the men’s pole vault with a season-best jump of 5.05 meters, and senior Zaeda Houff placing second in the women’s hammer throw after reaching a personal record of 58.21 meters.
On the track, sophomore King Taylor finished second in the men’s 400-meter race with a time of 48.14 seconds, while sophomore Kali Magana was third in the women’s event at 55.38 seconds. In preliminary rounds for hurdles events, seniors Kaycee McCoy and Madison Dominguez qualified for Saturday’s final in the women’s 100-meter hurdles; juniors Jairius Burton and Noah Hanson did so as well for men’s hurdles.
Houston also advanced three runners each to both men’s and women’s finals in the 100-meter dash: Ruth Agadama (junior), Matilde Ochoa (senior), Taylor Jackson (sophomore) for women; Jaelyn Reeves-Lile (junior), Danarrion Ard (senior), Darius Rodgers (sophomore) for men—all posting competitive times or personal bests.
The invitational continues Saturday beginning at 11:30 a.m., featuring additional field events followed by running competitions starting at 12:30 p.m., with alumni invited to attend.
