April 9, 2005

Austin, Texas - In his first race of the 2005 outdoor season, All-American sprinter Stanford Routt helped the University of Houston 4x100-meter relay team advance to Saturday's final at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.

Routt ran the first leg on Houston's relay team and joined Preston Perry, Termaine Smith and Carey LaCour in finished as the runner-up team in the fourth heat with a time of 39.47 seconds. Florida edged Houston with the fastest time in the preliminaries with a time of 39.10 seconds.

Smith and LaCour also ran the last two legs on Houston's 4x400-meter relay team that was the runner-up to TCU in the fourth heat with a time of 3:09.05. The other two runners on the first two legs were Kolee Latson and Michael Francis. The Horned Frogs won the heat with the third-fastest overall preliminary time with 3:08.00.

Perry also won the sixth heat of the men's 100-meter preliminary rounds with a time of 10.46 seconds. It was the sixth fastest overall preliminary time and qualifies Perry for Saturday's final.

Houston's sprint medley relay team of Sesar Figueroa, Christian Campbell, Sam Fobbs and Chris White combined for a time of 3:24.66 and finished in sixth place.

In the women's 4x100-meter relay, Houston's Jasmine Jackson, LaDedra Guy, Keisha Howard and Cheryl Garner was the runner-up to LSU in the fifth heat with a time of 45.57 seconds. LSU had the ninth-fastest time and qualified for Saturday's final with 44.89 seconds. Texas had the fastest women's 4x100-meter time with 44.07 seconds.

Howard, Garner, Jennifer Hunt and Tiffany Abney combined to win the fifth heat of the women's 4x400-meter relay prelims with a time of 3:35.22. The relay team had a sixth-fastest time overall and qualified for Saturday's final.

Senior hurdler Alicia Cave won the first heat of the women's 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.68 seconds to qualify for Saturday's final as well. Cave had the eighth-fastest preliminary time overall. Ashley Williams of Texas had the fastest time in the prelims as she completed the 100-meter hurdle course in 13.17 seconds.

Houston's other two hurdlers Rachel Easley and Caresir Hamilton had preliminary times of 14.51 seconds and 15.06 seconds, respectively.

Hamilton also had a ninth-place finish in the B section of the women's triple jump with a leap of 12.19 meters (40').

Senior Allie Booker also had a ninth-place finish in the A section of the women's discus throw with a mark of 48.69 meters (159' 9"), and her throw qualified her for the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Guy missed qualifying for the finals of the 100-meter dash after she had a time of 11.68 seconds in the prelims. Her time was 5/1000 of a second slower than Nina Mayes of Rice who had a time of 11.675 seconds.

In the men's 110-meter hurdles, senior Ronald Broadnax finished fourth in the third heat of the preliminary rounds with a time of 14.56 seconds. Marlon Odom of Texas Tech won the heat with a time of 14.00 seconds, while Baylor's Jerome Miller was the runner-up with a time of 14.11. Adam Stafford of UTA finished third in the heat in 14.40 seconds.

Another senior, Milton Manson, returned from a strained Achilles tendon injury for his first outdoor performance of the season and had a time of 14.35 seconds, the 19th overall fastest time in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles. Manson finished third in the seventh heat behind Adrian Ray of Sam Houston State, who had a time of 13.99 seconds and Devin Booker of Akron, who finished the race in 14.23 seconds.

Houston's Brandon Bray won the "B" division in the men's long jump after leaping 7.25 meters (23' 9 ½").

Jonathan Reeves had a sixth-place finish in the B section of the men's discus with a throw of 50.54 meters (165' 10") after recording a 12th-place finish in the men's shot put with a mark of 15.55 meters (51' ¼").