Davis, Henderson, And The Cowgirls Shine At Regional Track Meet

The results speak for themselves. It was a big weekend for the Wyoming Cowgirls track and field team at the NCAA West Preliminary in Sacramento, CA.

Senior Jerayah Davis made school history. Senior Ja’la Henderson accomplished something that hasn’t been done in 14 years. Not to be outdone, the women’s 4x100 meter relay grabbed the last qualifying spot.

In a release from the University of Wyoming, head track and field coach Bryan Berryhill was extremely pleased with his squads’ results.

“It was a great week of competition, and I thought we competed with effort and focus. To get student-athletes to the NCAA Finals in four different events is an amazing accomplishment. They should be very proud of how they competed this week, and I’m excited to see what they can accomplish in Austin.”

Davis will become the first woman in Wyoming women’s track and field history to compete at the same NCAA Championships, indoors or outdoors, in three events.

The senior from Casper punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships last Thursday in the long jump. Davis took sixth place with a best leap of 20 feet, 5.75 inches. She added another event last Friday, as Davis made it in the 100-meter dash. She ran 11.35 seconds for third-place in her heat and grabbed an automatic qualifying spot.

Henderson became the first Cowgirl to reach the national meet in the same event in back-to-back years since Shauna Smith (400-meter hurdles) in 2004 and 2005. The senior punched her ticket last Saturday in the triple jump. Henderson finished in third place. Her top mark was a season-best 43 feet, 6 inches.

Those two ran the first two legs and combined with Shayla Howell and Jordan Edmonds on the 4x100 meter relay. The Cowgirls finished with a time of 44.69 seconds and took fifth in their heat. The team was right on the bubble with one of the fastest non-automatic qualifying times. After a wait, UW got in with the final spot to the NCAA Championships.

This is also the first time since 2005 that multiple Cowgirl student-athletes have advanced to the national meet.

The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be June 5-8 in Austin, TX.