The University of Wyoming Track and Field team will be competing in the Mountain West Conference Championship in Fresno, California beginning May 9.
The team will consist of members who have done consistently well over the course of the season, including Heidi Pfoor, who inched her way into UW’s all-time top-10 at the 7220 Invite.
“I don’t think my last regular season could have gone any better than it did, I’m really happy with how it’s gone,” Pfoor said. “I feel really confident going into conference, not just for me but for my team. I feel like, as the girls the team, we’ve got closer and better and we’re really ready for conference.”
Pfoor wasn’t the only one who improved as the season progressed. In men’s distance, Michael Downey hit his personal record at the 7220 Invite in the 1500, and his time was good enough to put him third overall at UW. Ja’la Henderson shattered the school’s triple jump record and has continued to best herself at every meet. Jordan Edmonds also got herself into the UW all-time top-10 in their last regular season meet.
“I thought we got better throughout the season, which is always the goal,” head coach Bryan Berryhill said. “We want to get better each and every week, at each meet, and I thought we did that, I feel like we’re coming off our best performance as a team this past week.”
Berryhill is right about that. At the meet in Laramie, eight athletes broke into the UW top-ten lists, with seven personal bests. The Pokes are looking to continue that success of beating themselves at the conference meet.
“At conference, you kind of take away the times and you just want to score as many points as possible for your team,” Pfoor said. “I hope to make it to finals and score those points for my team.”
There have been many athletes throughout the season who have consistently stood out, such as Henderson who consistently broke records, Kirk and Damon Unland who almost always finished first and second in the hammer throw and Daniel Hintz who, week after week, posted solid numbers in his distance events. However, Berryhill notes he is not just looking to a few athletes to carry the team to victory.
“I think we have athletes in all the event areas who can really step up and perform, I don’t know if there’s any one particular event that I’m looking at,” Berryhill said.
The Pokes will start competition on May 9 with the conference championships concluding on May 12. They will be looking out-compete themselves once again at this meet, keeping consistent with the goal they have had all season long.
“We want to be better in Fresno than we were here, at our home meet,” Berryhill said. “If we do that, we’re going to have a good result. I think the team is as confident as it has ever been, and that’s kind of where you want to be going into a conference championship.”
