Feb. 1, 2003 - LARAMIE, Wyo. - The University of Wyoming men's and women's track and field teams both finished in second place Saturday at the Robert Shine Invitational at the War Memorial Fieldhouse in Laramie, Wyo. The Cowgirls finished the day with 111 points falling short to Colorado State who finished the day with 136 points. The Cowboys also fell short to the Rams as they produced 88.5 points to CSU's 126.

The Cowboys were led by senior Mervin Swaby who won two events on the day. In the long jump Swaby out jumped the competition with a leap of 24' 4 1/4". Swaby also took the crown in the 55 meter dash with a time of 6.43. In the weight throw senior Dan Williams and sophomore Zack Shaefer took second and third with marks of 61' 1 1/2" and 60' 8 3/4" respectively. Freshman Tom Hall earned a second place finish in the high jump clearing the bar at 6' 6". In the 3000 meter run freshman Brian Knight set a season best time of 9:06.31 for second place in the event, and sophomore Jeremy Thompson took second place with time of 1:58.94.

The Cowgirls had four athletes win their respective events on the day. Sophomore Shauna Smith set a new War Memorial Fieldhouse record in the 400 meter dash with a time of 55.33, breaking her old record of 5.95. Junior Kima Wells ran a 7.06 in the 55 meter dash to take first place, Wells also took third in the 400 meter dash with a time of 59.14. Senior Chanua Johnson jumped 5' 6" to earn the meet crown in the high jump, and freshman Janine Braithwaite took first place in the long jump with a leap of 18' 8 1/2". Other great Cowgirl performances were by senior Crystal Smith and freshman Melissa Vallejos finished second and third in the weight throw. Juniors Stephanie Anderson and Jody Sandborn both cleared 10' 6" to take second and third place in the pole vault. Junior Andrea Batt's throw of 51' 9 3/4" earned her second place in the shot put and freshman Ingvild Carstens was defeated by less than one hundredth of a second in the 200-meters with a time of 26.196 to settle for second place.

"We had some nice performances today," said head track and field coach Don Yentes following the meet. "We are slowly cutting into the competition against these two great teams. We are finally starting to get on track, Shauna Smith set a new Fieldhouse record today and it is good to see her come around. Mervin Swaby was a double winner to lead the men and their were many other performances today that were great but not in the top two or three. Things are going well and we will look to improve even more in two weeks."

The Cowgirls and Cowboys are off next weekend but then travel to Nebraska on the 15th of February for the Husker Invite.