HOUSTON -- The University of Houston men's track and field team notched its third-consecutive Conference USA Team Championship at the 2009 Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Houston, who racked up 147.50 points to edge UTEP's 113 and Rice's 104.50, won their 10th Indoor title since joining C-USA in 1997.

After winning the championship, Cougars head coach Leroy Burrell was named the Men's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year for the eighth time in his career.

"It was a very good all-around team effort," Coach Burrell said. "We have a very young team, but for them to perform so well here is really great."

"I've been trying to get the team to understand that we are trying to move out beyond Conference USA and really perform on the national level. I think this is really a step in the right direction."

The Lady Cougars women finished in second place with a total of 108 points, trailing Rice's 148 points.

Overall, Houston pocketed a total of 16 medals on the second day of competition, including five golds, as the Cougars racked up a total of seven individual titles during the meet.

D'Korian Ford was named the 2009 Male Freshman of the Year following the meet, grabbing a gold medal in high jump with a season best clearance of 1.99m (6-06.25) Ford captured his second medal of the day in the 60m hurdles, taking bronze with a time of 8.17.