T&F: Fuqua adds 19 freshmen for 2022-23
HOUSTON – HBU Director of Athletics/Cross Country Theresa Fuqua announced Friday the 19 new Huskies who will join the track and field and cross country programs for the upcoming 2022-23 school year.
Zeyad Ragab, a long jumper from Haram City, Egypt, is coming off a long jump PR of 7.75m/25-5.25, which would have ranked third in the Southland Conference last outdoor season. Ragab is the champion of the 2022 U20, U23, Senior and Arab Athletics Championships.
Also hailing from Egypt, Cairo native Yassin Salem will also compete in the jumps for the Huskies. Salem has a PR of 15.54m/51-0.0 in the triple jump, which would have placed him at the top of the SLC performance rankings last year, and also has a PR of 7.23m/23-8.75 in the long jump. He has won numerous national championships at the U18, U20 and senior levels.
Domen Sadic is a McKendree transfer and native of Ljubljana, Slovenia who competed as a pole vaulter but will be an all-arounder for the Huskies. In 2021, he took third place at the National Championship of Slovenia.
Another jumper, Winjaris Windster, is a native of Amsterdam, Netherlands and will compete in the long jump and triple jump. Windster has finished second at the junior championships four times and once at the national triple jump championships.
Tjalle-Durk van der Eems is a multi-sport athlete from Easterein in the Netherlands. In 2021, he finished fourth nationally in the javelin and sixth in the decathlon. He scored 23rd in the Dutch decathlon rankings before injury cut short his 2022 season.
Alex Piquart, a transfer from New Mexico Junior College, is a distance runner who will run both track and cross country. A native of Saint-Fulget, France, Piquart is a five-time all-American while earning all-region and conference honors in cross country.
Colin Dorsey hails from Hamshire-Fannett High School and will compete in the high jumps. Dorsey began his track and field career as a senior, winning UIL 4A District 21 titles in the high jump and long jump, while earning silver in the triple jump. At the national competition, he was fifth in the triple jump and sixth in the high jump.
Local product Charles Beckworth is a Cy-Springs High School sprinter who will sprint and run relays and has a PR of 49.26 in the 400 meters.
Another sprinter, Christian Rocha hails from Ingleside High School and will run short sprints.
On the women’s side comes Destiny Quintanilla from La Joya Palmview High School in the Rio Grande Valley. Quintanilla, a distance runner, will run track and cross country in both track and field and finish sixth in the 1,600 after a high school career in which she was an eight-time district champion and won silver at the 5A state meet in the 3,200 meters.
Isabel Case, another distance runner who will run on both skis and track, hails from Colorado Springs Christian School. Case earned bronze at the Colorado 2A regional meet and then placed ninth at the state championships. She then followed that up with 19th– placement in the small school national cross-country race.
Samantha Rabius, sister of the current Husky Jessica Rabius, will join the Huskies and compete in the all-around and jumps. The East Bernard native won three district titles as a senior in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and long jump. Rabius was fifth at the 3A state meet in the 300m hurdles.
Raylen Russell, an all-around sprinter from Fort Bend Bush High School, won silver in the UIL 6A District 20 100m as a senior. He has a PR of 11.87 in the 100m, 25.47 in the 200m and 58.78 in the 400m.
Another newcomer joining a sibling currently on the Huskies’ roster, Brianna Hinds’ sister Denzel Hinds and will run over obstacles. She won the 100 at both the Area 6A meet and the Region 4 championships as a senior, while also taking first place in the 300 at the district level.
Eline Mast, a long-distance runner from Purmerend, Netherlands, will compete in both cross country and running. Mast twice won the U20 national title in the 3000m steeplechase and earned a pair of U20 indoor bronze medals in the 800m.
Memphis transfer Liza Lap will compete in the throws. A native of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Lap has a PR of 48.90m/160-5.0 in the discus, which would have been a program record at HBU and would have been fourth in the conference last season. In 2021, she won second place at the 2021 Under-23 National Championships and competed at the Under-23 European Athletics Championships.
Reem Abdelrazek from Cairo, Egypt will compete in the vaults and brings a wealth of experience from the championship meets. She was third in the long jump three times and runner-up twice at the senior national level in the triple jump with multiple national titles in both jumps at the U23 and U20 levels.
Maria Bangala, originally from Mkushi, Zambia, is a middle distance runner who transferred from Murray State. Bangala will run the 400m and 800m for the Huskies and earned a silver medal in the 4×400 relay at the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships last season.
Madelyn Kocik comes to HBU from Gregory Portland High School and will be a double jumper. Kocik won the district and region titles in the triple jump as a senior, while also earning the region title in the long jump before placing third at the UIL 5A Region 4 meet.