April 26, 2002

Philadelphia, Pa. -

The University of Houston's 4x100-meter relay team won the first of 10 heats with a time of 45.42 seconds to qualify for the Women's Championship of America at the Penn Relays.

Houston edged Florida, who finished with a time of 45.65 seconds. The Lady Cougars will compete against Miami-Florida, California State-Northridge, Indiana, Florida, South Carolina, LSU and Texas in the finals.

The Lady Cougars had a third-place finish in the fourth heat of the 4x400-meter relay.

In the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase championship, Julie Perez finished in ninth place with a time of 11:01.68. In the second heat of the women's steeplechase, Jessica Oakes finished in third place with a career-best time of 10:57.08

In the men's division Michael Olague had a time of 14:52.42 in the men's 5,000 meter run to finish in 27th place out of 36 runners.