James strikes early, wins long jump

Richard Anderson photos
At top, Wyoming's Jeremiah James shows his winning form in the long jump in the Mountain West Conference Championships on Friday. At bottom, Jake Shanklin finished second in the hammer throw.
---
Men's Team Results

MWC Day 3 results

By Rob Ketcham
Wyoming Sports.org

All it took was one attempt for Wyoming sophomore Jeremiah James to claim victory in the men’s long jump Friday at the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex.

With an astounding leap of 24-feet, 10 inches, James not only accomplished a new personal record, but he also broke the track record of 24-1, which he had set last year.

“I didn’t think I would do so well so quick,” James said. “I thought I would get my best jump on my third or fourth attempt, but I’m definitely happy that I got it on my first one. It relieved some of the pressure on me and put it on the other guys.”

In addition to becoming the MWC’s men’s long jump champion, James surpassed the 24-foot mark, qualifying him for regional competition in two weeks. For the next competition, he said he will shoot for fifth place so he can move on to compete at the Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in early June.

Although he can celebrate the long jump victory on Friday, James must stay focused for the triple jump competition Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.

While James was the clear favorite to win the long jump, Wyoming senior Jake Shanklin was also the heavy favorite to take home the MWC title in the men’s hammer throw.

Yet, he was upset by Colorado State University’s Alex Godell. Shanklin’s distance of 219-8 fell just inches short to Godell’s 221 feet. The victory was Godell’s third-consecutive MWC outdoor hammer throw championship.

Even though he was clearly disappointed with the second-place finish, Shanklin found a way to remain positive. He said, “I guess today just wasn’t my day, but I still have three more meets, so I’ll just focus on them and use today’s performance as a building block.”

As a senior, Shanklin said he couldn’t have been happier to compete at home for his final MWC Championship.

“I had a lot of friends and family come out,” he said. “It turned out to be a very good competition in the hammer, which was a surprise, but it was still really nice. It got the crowd into it and was great publicity for the event.”

Despite being done for the weekend, Shanklin has already qualified for the regional competition, the Division I Championships and the US Championships in late June.

With the help of James and Shanklin, the Wyoming men’s team found itself in third place overall with 41.5 points going into the final day of the competition Saturday. The Cowboys trail only New Mexico with 43 points and Brigham Young University with 75.5.

Other notable Cowboy performers Friday were freshman Joe Plante, who finished third in the discus, and senior Mark Korir, who took fourth in the 3000-meter steeplechase.