Three UW tracksters qualify for regionals

PALO ALTO, Calif., --Three University of Wyoming track and field athletes will be heading to the NCAA Midwest Regional, after qualifying in the first day of competition at the Stanford Invitational.

Junior Emily Higgins and senior Sharon Larrier qualified for the Cowgirls, while sophomore Jeremiah James punched his ticket for the second time for the Cowboys.

Higgins qualified in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, as she easily beat her previous school record by more than 21 seconds.

Larrier, the Mountain West Conference champion in the 400-meter dash, regionally qualified with her time of 54.30 with her second-place finish Friday. Fellow sprinter, junior Jennifer Schmitz, qualified for Saturday's finals in the 100-meter hurdles with her time of 14.47.

James, the lone Cowboy to qualify thus far this season, has already done so in the triple jump last week at the Potts Invitational in Boulder, Colo. He added the long jump, as he had a best jump of 24-feet, 1 3/4 inches to place second. Along with James was senior John Alderson, who failed to qualify, but placed third with his leap of 22-6 1/4.

“It’s really exciting, getting some people qualified and we are getting real close on some others,” UW head coach Don Yentes said. “Again, we had some good performances today and we really look forward to tomorrow. We have a real good chance at getting another couple on the list for the regionals.”

Also for Wyoming, sophomore Taylor Kelting ran a personal best time in the 5,000-meter run in 14:32.45 which is good for ninth-best all-time in UW history. Fellow sophomore Alysha Davis placed fifth in her section of the 5,000-meter run and improved on her already sixth-best time in UW history that she set as a freshman for the Cowgirls. Her previous time of 17:18.25 was wiped away with her time of 17:15.87 Friday afternoon.

As for the throwers, junior Sam Lambert won his respective shot put sectional with his toss of 50-0 3/4, while sophomore Amanda Aimone had her personal best in the discus throw as she placed sixth with a toss of 140-3. Freshman Cowboy Joe Plante finished the discus throw in sixth with a toss of 154-2.

Action will continue at the Stanford Invite Saturday afternoon with live stats available at www.gostanford.com.