Trio of Cowboys Earn All-Region Honors at NCAA Mountain Region Championships

Friday, November 9

Provo, Utah

11:00 a.m.

University of Wyoming

NCAA Mountain Region Championships - M/W

Photo by: Michael Smith

11/9/2018 2:17:00 PM | Cross Country

Results

PROVO, Utah – The trio of Cowboy juniors Paul Roberts, Christopher Henry and Harry Ewing earned all-region honors at the 2018 NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Friday by finishing inside the top 25. It is the first time in program history the Cowboys have had three all-region honorees. The East Bay Golf Course provided the 6-kilometer course for the women's race, and the 10-kilometer course for the men.

"We've been training all year to come and run well at the 10-kilometer distance," said men's cross country coach Scott Dahlberg. "We had some guys step up really well. Paul, Chris and Harry all ran really well to give us some nice, low points. Michael Downey had a really good rebound from the conference race."

Overall, the Cowboys placed sixth out of 17 teams with 149 points. The sixth-place finish ties the Cowboys' best-ever finish at the region championships, a feat also accomplished by the 2010, 2008 and 2006 teams. The Cowgirls placed 12^th out of 20 teams with 300 points, improving from their 15^th-place finish just a year ago.

Roberts placed 11^th overall with a time of 29:27.4, the fastest time ever by a Cowboy at the Mountain Region Championships and the second-fastest 10-kilometer time in the record book that dates back to 1990.
Henry placed 17^th with a time of 29:39.3, which is the fourth-fastest 10k time in the Cowboy record book. Henry improved by 21 spots from last year's regional championship. Ewing finished in 21^st place with a time of 29:47.1, the fifth-fastest time in program history. Ewing improved 29 spots from last season's race.

Senior Michael Downey finished 37^th with a time of 30:21.6, while junior Daniel Hintz placed 63^rd in 31:02.3 to round out the Cowboys' scorers. Senior Jonah Henry finished in 31:36.9 to place 80^th, while sophomore Jerald Taylor placed 88^th with a time of 31:58.2.

For the Cowgirls, Junior Ashley Bock paced the Cowgirls with a 37^th-place finish in 21:01.8, a 50-spot improvement over last year for Bock. Katelyn Mitchem capped a breakout freshman campaign with a 45^th-place finish in her first regional experience, as she crossed the line in 21:13.2.

Senior Solana Quistorff was the Cowgirls' third finisher, placing 65^th with a time of 21:30.4, and junior Kacey Doner was 70^th with a time of 21:32.0. Rounding Wyoming's scorers, senior Emily Person was 83^rd with a final time of 21:51.2.

"As a whole, the team ran well and close together, it was a very close score between ninth and 12^th," said associate head coach Amanda Clower. "Solana stood up and had the race of her college career today, being our third runner. We definitely improved a lot from last year, so I am happy with the progress we have made."

Also competing for the Cowgirls, senior Kiah Leonard placed 93^rd in 21:59.4, and senior Regan VanDePol was 99^th with a time of 22:06.9.

The Wyoming harriers now await Saturday's announcement of teams that qualify for the NCAA National Championships. At the moment, the Cowboys appear to have enough points to qualify as a team, but the official announcement comes from the NCAA on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 3 p.m. (MT).

-WYO-