LOGAN, Utah – University of Wyoming junior thrower
Damon Unland has been the epitome of consistent during the 2016-17 outdoor track & field season, and Friday was no exception as he captured an individual Mountain West title in the men's hammer throw with a toss of 197 feet, 8 inches. A fellow model of consistency, senior
Scott Carter, started his final conference championship meet with a silver medal in the men's long jump, demolishing his personal best with a leap of 25-3.5 to move up to No. 2 on the UW all-time list for the event.
Unland won the hammer throw by nearly 10 feet on Friday, as Air Force senior Malachi Sparling was the runner-up with a toss of 187-10. He followed up his title-winning performance with a fourth-place finish in the men's discus, tossing 165-10. On the women's side of the hammer throw,
Emelda Malm-Annan garnered all-conference honors with a personal best toss of 197-2, good enough to move up to No. 3 on the UW all-time list for the event.
"Both Damon (Unland) and Emelda (Malm-Annan) have been very consistent this outdoor season," head coach
Bryan Berryhill said on Friday. "If you're consistent going into the conference meet, you're going to go out there and do it again. And that's basically what they did today, just what they've been doing all season."
Carter's long jump was over a foot farther than his previous personal best as he jumped up eight spots to No. 2 on the UW all-time list, just an inch and a quarter from tying the program record. Carter's all-MW honor is his first of the outdoor variety since taking third in the triple jump at the 2014 MW outdoor championships.
On the track, Carter qualified for Saturday's finals in the men's 110-meter hurdles, clocking the sixth-best time in Friday's prelims at 14.48.
Jordan Charles also qualified for the finals, posting the fifth-best time in the prelims at 14.46.
Jace Marx and
Sam Kirkeide each qualified for Saturday's finals in the men's 100 meters. Marx posted the No. 8 time on the UW all-time list, 10.56, for the fifth-best prelim time, while Kirkeide had the sixth-best prelim time with a personal record of 10.64. Marx also posted a personal record in the 200 meters at 21.32, improving his No. 6 time on the UW all-time list for the event, but finished one spot out of qualifying for Saturday's final.
Kevin Blackett was another Cowboy qualifier in the sprints, posting the eighth-best time in the prelims for the men's 400 meters at 49.61.
Ricky Faure and
Bryce Ailshie both qualified for the finals of the men's 800 meters on Friday. Faure clocked the seventh-best prelim time, 1:54.08, to advance, while Ailshie advanced on a technicality due to interference from another runner. The Cowgirls also had two qualifiers in the event, as
Kerry White (2:10.28) and
Cassidy Meade (2:13.09) had the fourth and eighth-best times, respectively, in Friday's prelims.
Audra DeStefano earned all-conference honors with a third-place finish in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase after winning the conference crown in 2016. DeStefano clocked a raw time of 10:32.58 to secure her fourth consecutive all-conference award in the event. She will leave Wyoming never having finished lower than third in the steeplechase at the conference level. On the men's side,
Jonah Henry locked down a fourth-place finish in the steeplechase with a time of 9:25.06, collecting five points for the Cowboys.
Berryhill was impressed with DeStefano's performance. "That's the toughest event in the entire meet," he said. "That was by far her best race of the year. She did a great job and she's racing well."
Jerayah Davis had a successful day in the sprints, qualifying for Saturday's finals in the women's 100 meters and 200 meters. She had the sixth-best time in the prelims for the 100 meters, clocking 11.47, and the seventh-best time in the prelims for the 200 meters, clocking 23.63. Her 200 meters time is No. 4 on the UW all-time list for the event, moving her up six spots in the record books.
"We had some good things happen," Berryhill said of Wyoming's performance on Friday. "We qualified quite a few kids through to tomorrow. Now we've just got to come back tomorrow and compete."
The Cowboys enter the final day of competition in Logan with 28.5 points, good for fourth in the team standings, while the Cowgirls enter Saturday's action in eighth place with 17 points. The women's shot put will be the first event in the field on Saturday as it is slated for 2:30 p.m. MT, while a full schedule of event finals on the track will begin at 3:30 p.m. with the men's 4x100-meter relay. Stream the action live at the links above and follow
@wyo_track on Twitter for additional updates.
