Jacob Edwards competes in a meet from a previous season. The Cowboy relay team fell short this weekend at Drake after a blunder.
The University of Wyoming men finished seventh in the 4×800-meter relay on Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa at the famous Drake Relays.
The Cowboys were in fifth through the first leg, but lost the baton in the first exchange en route to a final time of 7:33.15 which placed them seventh overall out of 15.
Running in cloudy, cool conditions, graduate student Thomas Atkinson got the Pokes off to a good start on the first leg. He was fifth as he handed the baton to freshman Calum Kepler. As Kepler turned to start the second leg, though, he ran directly into the back of a fellow competitor forcing the baton out of his hand. The mistake dropped the Cowboys to as low as 11th in the 15-team field, but freshman Ricky Faure and graduate student Harry Fisher battled back over the third and fourth legs to move Wyoming up in the final standings. Loyola won the race in 7:25.12, while Arkansas came in second with an overall time of 7:25.63. The Cowboys finished ahead of three squads, which were Illinois, Washington and Missouri.
“We looked a little flat after having last weekend off. The kids were trying, but we didn’t see the results we’d like to. We are getting to that part of the season where we need to perform better,” said head coach Brian Berryhill to a Wyoming athletic press release.
Wyoming makes its final preparations for the Mountain West Outdoor Championships by hosting the Cowpoke Open on Friday at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex. The event begins at 10 a.m.
