LARAMIE, Wyo. – Coming off a great home meet, the University of Wyoming track & field team heads to Clovis, Calif., to face off against conference foes at the 2018 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships this week. The meet runs Wednesday through Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium, with Wyoming set to start competition on Thursday night with the men's and women's 10,000 meters.

The Pokes boast one defending individual champion and two current conference leaders heading into this weekend's league meet. Senior Damon Unland looks to defend his hammer throw title from the 2017 MW outdoor championships, where he threw 197 feet, 8 inches for the victory. Coming off a personal best mark of 200-7 at the 7220 Invite in Laramie, Unland currently tops the league standings by more than six feet over his younger brother Kirk Unland. Kirk tossed 194-0 for a PR at the 7220 Invite, nearly seven feet better than any other hammer thrower in the conference with a last name other than Unland this season.

Meanwhile, UW jumps star Ja'la Henderson leads the conference in the triple jump by more than two feet after breaking her own school record with a leap of 43-8.5 at the Beach Invitational. Henderson will look to complete the indoor and outdoor conference title sweep of the event in Clovis while seeking another all-conference award in the long jump. She is currently ranked third in the MW for the long jump at 20-2.5, 6.75 inches back of conference leader Lisa-Anne Barrow of San Diego State. Freshman William Nolan is also ranked near the top of the conference in both lateral jumps, as his triple jump mark of 48-1.75 is third while his long jump mark of 23-10.75 is fourth. Nolan will look to mirror or improve his performance from the MW indoor championships this weekend. He was the runner-up in the triple jump and took fourth in the long jump at the indoor league meet in Albuquerque, N.M., in February. 

On the track, a number of Pokes are currently ranked near the top of the league in their events ahead of the conference championship meet and will attempt to keep or improve on their positions in order to earn All-MW distinctions. Junior Jace Marx is currently No. 3 in the MW for the men's 100 meters at 10.63 seconds, while his 200 meters time of 21.49 (adjusted for altitude) ranks No. 5. He will also be a key piece of Wyoming's 4x100-meter relay squad in Clovis. Fellow junior Jackson Wood clocked a blazing 47.35 (adjusted for altitude) in the 400 meters at the 7220 Invite and is ranked fifth in the MW.

Wyoming is strong in the men's 800 meters, as juniors Bryce Ailshie and Ricky Faure are currently ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the conference, respectively. At last year's MW outdoor championships, Faure took third for all-conference honors while Ailshie was fifth. On the women's side of the event, senior Kerry White is ranked sixth in the league at 2:08.69. She was also sixth at last season's league championships.

UW is just as strong in the men's 1,500 meters, with sophomore Daniel Hintz and junior Michael Downey ranked fourth and fifth in the conference standings after they posted the No. 2 (3:43.20) and No. 3 (3:43.95) times on the UW all-time list, respectively, at the 7220 Invite. Wyoming had no scorers in the men's 1,500 meters at last season's outdoor conference championships. Redshirt freshman Harry Ewing might have the most impressive conference standing in the young group of Cowboy distance runners groomed by UW assistant coach Scott Dahlberg this season, as he is ranked third in the league for the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:52.70 heading into the conference meet. The two runners ranked ahead of Ewing, as well as the runner ranked directly behind him, are all seniors. Ewing has the top time in the conference for freshmen this year by more than 16 seconds.

After a breakout performance in the 400-meter hurdles at the 7220 Invite that put her on the UW all-time top 10 list, senior Heidi Pfoor is looking to make the most of her final outdoor conference meet. Her time of 1:00.72 (adjusted for altitude) is currently fifth in the league. Meanwhile, freshman Cowboy McCade Johnson is ranked fifth in the men's 400-meter hurdles at 53.41 (adjusted for altitude) and will look to contribute points for the team in the outdoor conference championship setting like he did at the MW indoor championships earlier this year.

With a talented corps of sprinters including juniors Jerayah Davis and Jordan Edmonds, the Cowgirls are ranked fourth in the MW for the 4x100-meter relay heading into the league meet. Davis, Edmonds, Henderson and Pfoor clocked a time of 45.73 at the 7220 Invite, good for No. 6 on the UW all-time list. Adjusted for altitude, their time of 46.01 is fourth in the conference behind San Diego State, UNLV and Colorado State. The Cowboys' season-best 4x100-meter relay time of 41.41 is also ranked fourth in the league.

A couple more Cowgirls to watch include senior thrower Hannah Carr and junior thrower Emelda Malm-Annan. Carr is ranked sixth in the league for the discus at 159-2, while Malm-Annan is fourth for the hammer throw at 197 feet even. Last season, Malm-Annan earned All-MW honors with a third-place finish in the event.

As a team, Wyoming looks to build on an impressive home meet and solid outdoor season to improve from a sixth-place finish on the men's side and 10th-place effort on the women's side at the 2017 MW outdoor championships. The 2018 Mountain West Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin Wednesday with the multi-events, while track events will get started with the women's 10,000 meters at 9:15 p.m. MT Thursday night. Track events will continue throughout Friday and Saturday, while field events start at 4 p.m. MT Friday and will continue throughout Saturday. Fans can watch the action unfold live on FloTrack or follow live results at the links above, while additional updates will be available on twitter at @wyo_track.