Wyoming Track & Field To Send 11 Athletes To NCAA West Preliminaries

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Photo credit to Sean O’Sullivan

Laramie, Wyo. (May 16, 2019) – The Wyoming track and field teams will send 11 athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary, held in Sacramento, Calif., from Thursday through Saturday, May 23-25. This is the third-consecutive season the Pokes will have 11 qualifiers, and it is the most since 15 athletes competed at the 2015 prelims. Athletes and relay teams that finish in the top-12 at the preliminaries advance to the NCAA National Championships.

Three Wyoming athletes will have busy weekends, as Jerayah Davis and Ja’la Henderson will both compete in three events, while William Nolan earned a spot in two events.

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Davis and Henderson are both on the 4x100m relay team that will enter the meet ranked 17th in the West with a time of 44.78. Joining the two Cowgirl seniors are Jordan Edmonds and Shayla Howell. That foursome has the second-best time in school history and took second at the Mountain West Championships last weekend.

Davis is also seeded fourth in both the 100m dash and the long jump. Davis’ 100m time of 11.18 is a school record and is one of just six athletes in the West to run an 11.20 or better this season. Davis’s busy weekend will continue in the long jump, where she is also seeded fourth with a leap of 21 feet, 2.5 inches. Davis is one of nine athletes in the west to have cleared 21 feet this season in the long jump. Coincidentally, Davis’ 100m and long jump school records came on the same day at the Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif., so the Casper native is familiar with competing in the Golden State. This is Davis’ third-consecutive trip to the NCAA West Preliminaries, as the previous two years, she competed in the 100m dash with a 200m appearance in 2017.

Henderson is competing in both the long jump and the triple jump for the second consecutive season and advanced to the NCAA National Championships in both in 2018. In fact, Henderson won the triple jump title last season with a school-record leap of 44 feet, 3.5 inches. This season, Henderson won the triple jump title at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships and finished behind Davis for second place in the long jump. Henderson’s season-best in the long jump of 20-6.5 is seeded 23rd, while her triple jump of 42-9 is seeded 18th.

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Nolan will compete in both the long jump and the triple jump at the preliminary meet. Nolan finished runner-up in the triple jump at the MW Championships after finishing sixth in the long jump. Nolan’s season-best long jump of 24-4.25 is 10th all-time at UW and will have him as the 45th seed at the meet. His triple jump season-best mark of 49-10.5 is ninth all-time among Cowboys, and he will be the 34th seed at the prelims. This will be Nolan’s first trip to the prelims.

Three more Pokes will compete on the track in distance races. Harry Ewing will enter the steeplechase as the seventh-ranked runner in the West. His school-record time of 8:42.72 is among the nation’s best. Ewing narrowly missed out on a trip to nationals last season in what was his first time competing at the preliminary meet. Kacey Doner will also run the steeplechase for the Cowgirls, and her time of 10:19.86 is seeded 28th in the event. That time is the second-best steeplechase time in Cowgirl history, and this is her first preliminary appearance. Christopher Henry is making his second-consecutive appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary in the 10,000m run, and his time of 29:24.74 is seeded 46th. It’s also the eighth-fastest 10,000m race in Cowboy history.

The Wyoming throwers will send three athletes to Sacramento: one Cowgirl and two Cowboys. Emelda Malm-Annan will enter the meet ranked 20th in the hammer throw with her season-best throw of 202-7 that she set at the Beach Invitational. That throw is third-best all-time at Wyoming. Kirk Unland and Eric McArthur will represent the Cowboys. Unland is coming off a first-place finish at the Mountain West Championships, where he had a personal-best throw of 205-11. That mark is No. 8 on the Cowboy all-time list. McArthur was the runner-up behind Unland with a PR of 198-9. Unland is seeded 29th, while McArthur is 39th. This is Unland’s second-straight trip to the preliminary meet in the hammer throw, while McArthur will make his debut.

The NCAA West Preliminary meet is held Thursday through Saturday, May 23-25, and is hosted by Sacramento State. Fans can find links to live results on GoWyo.com, and updates will be provided on Twitter @wyo_track.

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