Freshman Trio Reaching New Heights

The News Magazine of HCU

HBU freshmen Quillan Haughton, Samara Hodges and Iyanu Adeyeye are all high jumpers on the Husky track & field team. Competing in their first-ever collegiate track & field season, all three find their names on the program records lists.

Samara Hodges

All three entered the 2017 track & field season with lofty goals. In fact, when asked about their goals at the start of their freshman year, they all mentioned personal goals which, despite having their names on the indoor and outdoor high jump records, they have not yet attained.

Hodges, a Houston native, is tied for the record in indoor and holds the record outright in outdoor competition. She’s tied with former Husky Ashley Johnson, who set the records in 2009, with an indoor mark of 1.65m/5-5 that she reached in January at the University of Houston Invitational. In outdoor, her record-breaking leap of 1.69m/5-6.59 came at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships in May.

Looking forward to the rest of her collegiate career, Hodges’ expectations are simple, with the freshman adding, “I want to set new records and just keep improving each year.”

Quillan Haughton

Haughton, who hails from Sugar Land, got started with his record-setting in indoor at his first collegiate meet, the 2017 Aggie Invitational. His height of 2.04m/6-8.25 was a new mark for the program. He bettered that height twice during the indoor season, saving his best for last. Haughton found himself on the podium at the 2017 Southland Indoor Championships with a program-best 2.10m/6-10.75.

In the second meet of the outdoor season, Haughton cleared a height of 2.03m/6-8 at the Victor Lopez Classic to pair with Hodges in notching record heights at the same meet. One month later, at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight meet at Rice, it was Adeyeye’s turn to match the men’s record mark of 2.03m/6-8.

The three enjoy a friendly rivalry, pushing one another to new heights. As Adeyeye put it, “We want to keep setting new records, getting better, encouraging each other and showing that HBU is a school to pay attention to.”

Iyanu Adeyeye

Haughton added, “We’re trying to make some noise for HBU. As a team, we have a young group and if we keep working hard and developing, and if we keep pushing each other, the sky’s the limit.”

HBU re-started its track & field program in 2008 with the announcement of the school’s transition back to the NCAA Division I ranks after fielding a men’s team in the 1970s and 1980s. The current program records include all outdoor competition since the program was re-started. The all-time school record belongs to Ricky Thompson, who cleared a height of 2.30m/7-6.5 in 1983. That same year, Thompson became the NCAA champion in the high jump at the NCAA Championships, held in Houston at Robertson Stadium.

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Aeriel Horton