UW track teams compete in two meets

The University of Wyoming track and field teams split their squads on Saturday to compete in both the Oregon Relays in Eugene, Ore., and the Colorado State Jack Christiansen Invitational in Fort Collins, Colo.

In action at the Oregon Relays, the Cowboys came away with three first-place finishes, with junior Kekoa Chavez winning in the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Jeremiah James taking the triple jump and senior Jake Shanklin capturing the hammer throw.

Chavez, won the 400-meter hurdles in the first of three sections beating Daniel Sullivan from Seattle University by eight hundreths of a second. With his time of 52.94 seconds, he improves his 10th place time in UW history in the event by four hundreths of a second. James won his third outdoor triple jump event this season at 48-feet, 11 3/4 inches, which was two inches further than Josh Crawford of Wichita State.

"The field had a sub-par day, but Jeremiah competed very well and had enough to rise above the rest and win for the Cowboys," said assistant coach Quincy Howe.

Shanklin earned his third straight hammer throw win with his toss of 207-8, nearly a foot farther than Zach Midles of the University of Washington.

"Jake threw very well today and beat some of the big guns from the Pac-10," said assistant coach Paul Barrett.

Continuing action at the Oregon Relays, the Cowboys and Cowgirls each improved on one top-10 list. Cowboy, Philemon Kimutai ran the eighth best time in the 5,000-meter with his 11th-place time of 14:21.99. As for the Cowgirls, sophomore Alysha Davis improved her 5,000-meter run time of 17:15 to 17:00, to take the fifth-best spot.

"We had some very good performances in a great track and field atmosphere here in Eugene, Ore.," said assistant coach Randy Cole. "This experience will help these kids in the near future getting use to a big meet like this."

As for the Cowboys and Cowgirls in Fort Collins, they competed in frigid temperatures. Cowgirl seniors Shaylee Babbitt and Lindsey Fuller led the team with their second-place finishes in the 100-meter hurdles and long jump respectively. Babbitt ran a 14.05 for the second straight week which is second best this season, while Fuller leaped 16-10 3/4.

Sophomore Travis Corrow had a second-place finish and best jump of the outdoor season in the long jump at 21-9 1.2.

"We really ground it out today and got out of here without any injuries," said head coach Don Yentes. "It was a nice tune up for us heading into next week and gearing up for the Mountain West Conference Championships."

The Cowboys and Cowgirls will compete Saturday in the Front Range Championships, hosted by the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo. Wyoming hosts the MWC Championships on May 13-16.