Cowboys finish fourth at 2021 Mountain West Outdoor Championships

CLOVIS, Calif. — The third and final day of the 2021 Mountain West Outdoor Championships wrapped up for the University of Wyoming Track & Field teams on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium as the Cowboys notched their highest team finish in the conference since 2000.

Colton Paller took the first and only gold medal of the Mountain West Championships for the Cowboys setting a new personal-best on his winning throw in the men’s Discus.

The Cowboy senior led the event wire to wire and moved up the UW All-Time Top-10 Event List to No. 6 with his mark of 189-0.

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In the first event of the day the Cowboys posted 10 more team points as Kirk Unland, Hap Frketich and Sage Coventry all placed in the top-eight of the men’s Javelin. Unland placed highest among the Cowboys in his first Javelin competition of the season with a throw of 194-11. Frketich and Coventry went five and eight respectively with throws of 193-1 and 164-5.

“The men’s team competed very well for the third day in a row," said UW head coach Bryan Berryhill. “Competitions have a lot to do with how you start and end the day and we carried the steeple momentum from Friday into the javelin this morning. The day was highlighted by Colton Paller winning the discus but we also had some great performances in the javelin, triple jump, hurdles, and relays. For the men to have the highest finish in over 20 years took a total team effort.

In addition to the throwers listed above five Cowboys/Cowgirls posted points on the board on the final day of the meet. Caige McComb posted seven points across two separate events. The Sophomore sprinter took fifth place in the 110M Hurdles and sixth in the 400M Hurdles as his teammate, McCade Johnson, took fifth in the same race with a time of 54.44.

Reece Shannon and Jefferson Danso went six-seven in the Triple Jump for a combined five points in the event. Shannon went 46-6.25 while Danso posted a mark of 45-7.25 in the event.

Coming off a personal best in the prelims on Friday evening, Jasmyne Cooper ran a 2:09.57 to finish in eighth place in the women’s 800 and earned one point for the Cowgirls.

The men’s 4x400 Relay team took fifth place in the final race of the meet running a time of 3:21.01 and scoring four points for the Cowboys cementing a fourth place finish for Wyoming with 93 total team points.

Berryhill on the Cowgirls, “Our women’s team competed with a lot of heart over the three days. They were focused and had positive energy throughout. We were missing some key contributors but I’m proud of how the team fought here in Fresno for every point.”

NOTE

Due to Covid-19 safety protocols there was a group of Wyoming student athletes who are key contributors to the Cowboys and Cowgirls that were unable to attend the 2021 Mountain West Outdoor Championships.

Some of those athletes will participate in the Loper Twilight in Kearney, Neb., tomorrow afternoon on Sunday, May 16th.

Cowgirls Shayla Howell and Sadie McMullen will compete in the Long Jump, Nathan Reid and Mikey DeRock will throw in the Shot Put and Discus while Giulia Lodi will compete in the Javelin. The meet hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney is slated to get started at 3PM.

FULL RESULTS

COWBOYS

Discus | 1. Colton Paller 189 (PR, No. 6 All-Time UW), 10. Daniel Carrillo 147-9

Javelin | 4. Kirk Unland 194-11, 5. Hap Frketich 193-1, 8. Sage Coventry 164-5

110M Hurdles | 5. Caige McComb 14.80

400M Hurdles | 5. McCade Johnson 54.44, 6. Caige McComb 54.58

Triple Jump | 6. Reece Shannon 46-6.25, 7. Jefferson Danso 45-7.25

4x100 Relay | 6. 43.29

5000M | 9. Christopher Henry 14:20.93, 23. Philip Henry 15:12.58, 24. Asefa Wetzel 15:16.30, 25. Seth Bruxvoort 15:16.33

1500M | 12. Asefa Wetzel 4:02.19

4x400 Relay | 5. 3:21.01

COWGIRLS