LARAMIE, Wyo. – A month removed from the season-opening Power Meet, the University of Wyoming track & field team will commence the main portion of its 2018 indoor season on Friday and Saturday with a trip to Boulder, Colo., for the annual Potts Indoor Invitational. The Pokes will compete against athletes from Air Force, host Colorado, Colorado State and Northern Colorado during the two-day meet.
 
A number of field events will get the action started at 3 p.m. MT on Friday. Wyoming junior Ja'la Henderson will headline the women's long jump field after leaping 19 feet, 0.75 inches at the Power Meet, which is currently good for third in the Mountain West behind San José State sophomore Destiny Longmire and Fresno State junior Jestena Mattson. Henderson posted the best indoor mark of her career, 20-0.5, during a meet at the CU Indoor Practice Facility last season. That mark is good for No. 2 on the UW all-time list for the event. Henderson is on a mission for her third consecutive All-Mountain West distinction in the event in 2018, while she is also chasing down the UW women's indoor long jump record of 20-5 set by Patricia Miller in 1980.
 
Junior Emelda Malm-Annan also highlights the Cowgirl competitors who will compete on Friday afternoon. Malm-Annan is ranked fourth in the conference in the women's weight throw after a mark of 57-6.5 at the Power Meet. Malm-Annan's personal best in the event, 64-3.25, is nearly four feet better than the 2018 conference-leading mark by Aisiah Tuiasosopo of Fresno State. Fellow thrower and senior Garrett Lynch will attempt to move up in the MW men's shot put standings on Saturday morning in Boulder. Lynch is currently ranked third in the league with a toss of 52-11.5. Also competing Saturday morning will be freshman triple jumper William Nolan, currently second in the Mountain West with a mark of 47-10.5, and junior triple jumper Allegra Carson, who is fifth in the conference at 38-11.
 
Track events will get going at 1 p.m. Saturday with prelims for the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash. Reigning Mountain West Women's Track Athlete of the Week Jordan Edmonds will be back in action after posting an adjusted mark of 7.65 seconds at the Power Meet that puts her fourth in the conference. Joining Edmonds will be senior Melina Harris, who is fifth in the league with an adjusted time of 7.69. Meanwhile, Cowgirl sprinter Makayla Pzinski currently ranks second in the league for the 200 meters. Jace Marx, Sam Kirkeide and Kevin Blackett will lead the Cowboy sprints group in Boulder. Blackett's adjusted time of 22.46 in the 200 meters is currently third in the Mountain West, while Marx and Kirkeide are ranked in the top 10 for the 60 meters.
 
A full squad of Wyoming athletes will compete in Boulder, with distance runners set to compete in the 800 meters, mile and 3,000 meters, while UW hurdlers will also be in action. Senior Cowgirl Heidi Pfoor enters the meet fifth in the conference for the 60-meter hurdles at 8.88 seconds, while Cowboy freshmen Jay Shuman and McCade Johnson are sixth and seventh, respectively, in the league standings on the men's side of the event. Johnson, a Laramie native, also currently ranks second in the MW for the 400 meters.
 
Admission to the 2018 Potts Indoor Invitational costs $8 per spectator. Links for live results and additional information will be available in the coming days on GoWyo.com and at @wyo_track on twitter.