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Wyoming Wins Three Individual Conference Titles on Final Day of MWC Championships
Seth Billy, Kelly Ann Charles and Quincy Howe Claim Titles
May 18, 2002
LARAMIE, Wyo. -
Two Cowboys and one Cowgirl won individual conference titles, highlighting a solid final day of competition for the Wyoming track and field team at the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Juniors Seth Billy, Kelly Ann Charles and Quincy Howe all claimed titles in their respective events Saturday at the Cadet Track on the campus of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Howe won the conference outdoor triple jump title for the third time in his career with a record-breaking leap of 54-4 3/4, shattering his previous school and conference record of 53-00. Howe's effort earned him the meets Most Outstanding Male Performance award. Billy claimed his second consecutive conference title in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles with a new school and meet record time of 50.07. Billy, from Christ City Barbados, broke his own school record of 50.45 he set a day earlier during prelims. Charles, from Chaguanas, Trinidad, won her first ever conference championship, taking the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.07. Howe, Billy and Charles earned all-conference honors for their efforts. "It was a tremendous meet on both sides," said Wyoming head coach Don Yentes. "I was very pleased with the team, they all gave it everything they had and I couldn't have asked for more from them." Wyoming's men and women placed fifth in the final team standings with the Cowboys finishing with 88 points and the Cowgirls 95. Brigham Young swept the men's and women's team titles with 228 and 193.50 points respectively. The Cowgirls scored 25 more points than at the 2001 conference championships. "The talent in the conference has escalated amazingly in three years and we're trying to stay up and get better ourselves as the other teams in the league get better." Yentes said. A young Cowgirl squad had some outstanding performances Saturday led by freshman Shauna Smith who was awarded the MWC's Women's Freshman of the Year award. Smith, from Sheridan, Wyo., was runner-up in the 400-meter dash with a new school record time of 53.04, which also earned her all-conference accolades. She shattered teammate and fellow freshman Jessica Fox's previous record of 53.31 set earlier this season. Smith also placed sixth in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles and anchored the Cowgirls 4x400-meter relay team to a fourth place finish. Senior Julie Thomas closed out her Cowgirl career in good fashion by placing second in the hammer with a toss of 181-7, earning her all-conference honors. Also earning All-MWC honors was junior Kim Demers who placed third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 60.82. Other top five performances were given by junior Adelaide Harper, who placed fifth in both the 100-meter dash (12.17) and 200-meter dash (24.17), Fox, who finished fourth in the 400-meter dash (53.46), sophomore Chan Johnson, who placed 5th in the high jump (5-7) and sophomore Andrea Batt, who placed fifth in the hammer (170-1). "Our women really came out today and competed hard. If they would have just had one more person step up we would have finished third, but we're young and still learning a lot of things about championships meets. We're very excited about the women's program and where it's going. They just keep getting better and better." Yentes said. The Wyoming men, although small in numbers, turned in a number of quality performances. Junior Mervin Swaby placed third in the triple jump with a lifetime best leap of 51-1 3/4, earning him all-conference honors. He also placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a career best time of 10.66. Junior Dan Williams, who claimed two top-five finishes on Friday, placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 155-5. Junior Cody Millemon took fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 47.86. Millemon held the lead in the race until the final 25 meters. Sophomore Darren Niedermeyer cleared a height of 16-00 to place him fifth in the pole vault. "Our men had a very nice meet given our situation. We only had about half of a team compete but they all did a great job, I'm very pleased. Seth (Billy), Quincy (Howe) and Mervin (Swaby) all had tremendous meets for us, they really stepped it up. All our other guys competed real hard and really gave some great performances." said Yentes. Overall, Wyoming finished the 2002 MWC Championships with four individual champions, four conference runner-ups and 12 All-Conference performers. Results from the Final Day of Competition at the 2002 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships Final Team Scores
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