In their best conference finish since 1990 and the highest Mountain West finish, the Cowgirls placed second as a team with 55 points. The scoring five all finished inside the top 15 (5-10-11-14-15), the first time multiple ran to a top-15 finish since 2014. This is also the first time in Mountain West history the Cowgirls had two finishers in the top 10.

Four Cowgirls earned Mountain West honors, with senior Eowyn Dalbec taking First-Team and sophomore Claire Engelhardt, junior Muriel Jones and senior Hailey Uhre picking up Second-Team honors.

Leading the Cowgirls for the fourth time this season was senior Eowyn Dalbec in fifth with a time of 20:16.7. She sat in third place in the 1-3k mark before dropping to fourth at the 4k split and fifth in the final kick. Dalbec was the next best runner for nearly the whole race behind New Mexico’s top finishers. Her time of 20:16.7 was the No. 4 6k time in program history, giving Dalbec three of the top 4 times.

On Dalbec’s championship performance, Head Coach Scott Dahlberg said, “Eowyn ran a super tough race and put herself in a place that was probably a little scary at times. She ran with some girls she’s never run with before but was able to put herself in a really good spot.”

He added, “She ran a lot of the fast-paced race by herself. That’s a hard place to be, not knowing exactly where you are at and how much energy you have left in you. It was a good experience for her to have that race and be able to move on to the next one knowing she can go out hard and still handle it very well.”

The next Cowgirl to cross the line was sophomore Claire Engelhardt. After finishing 33rd as the top Wyoming runner at the championships a year ago, today she placed 10th overall. Engelhardt had to fight back to earn her top 10 finish after falling to 18th at the 3k mark. She improved at each split to the finish line with a personal-best time of 20:42.3.

Junior Muriel Jones crossed right after Engelhardt with a time of 20:43.6 for 11th. She majorly improved from her 45th-place finish a year ago. Jones hovered in and out of the top 10 before earning 11 points for the Cowgirls.

The trend of back-to-back finishers didn’t end there as the Uhre sisters rounded out the scoring five. Senior Hailey Uhre ran to 14th at 20:54.2 to round out the all-conference honors for the Cowgirls. She was also the last runner under 21 minutes in the 6k.

Rounding out the scoring five was junior Gracie Uhre. She finished with a time of 21:00.3 for 15th. She also had to fight for her finish to end the race, overtaking a Lobo runner to secure a top 15 time. This was Uhre’s personal best time and a massive improvement from her placement last season.

While Dalbec led the Cowgirls, the depth of the team is what made this historic race possible. The team held at most a 14-point lead over Air Force and was only behind the Falcons at the 1k mark.

“Our depth is definitely what propelled us to second place,” said Dahlberg. “We knew going in that we’re the deepest team that we’ve had in a long time and took advantage of that. The girls ran well together and once the moves were made, we were able to push together to get in position for a hard finish. Having each other around one another was super important”

The Cowgirl dominance didn’t end after the scoring finished as the rest of the team placed inside the top 25.

Senior Madelyn Blazo crossed the line 18th with a time of 21:05.8, her best of the season by 23 seconds. Blazo fell to 20th at the halfway mark but competed back to 18th, her best finish at the MW championships.

Next for Wyoming was junior Brionna Holso with a time of 21:22.2 for 21st. She took a big step forward from her 2025 finish of 38th. Holso also rose one spot in the final kilometer.

Sophomore Elliana Zock nearly ran a personal best with her time of 21:24.4 for 23rd overall. She ran nearly a minute faster than last season as the seventh finisher for the Cowgirls.

Lastly, junior Sydney Morrell ran in her first Mountain West championship and took 25th at 21:31.8. Her time was more than 20 seconds quicker than her last conference championship performance in the Big 12. With her finish, she cemented the first time the Cowgirls have had four competitors in the top 25.

COWBOYS

On the men’s side, Wyoming took in third in the team standings with 84 points, finishing 9-19-20-21-24. This marks the second time in three years that the Cowboys have placed third and the second year in a row with a top 10 finisher.

On the Cowboys’ performance, Dahlberg said, “This men’s team has been stepping up every race. Today, we put a lot more pieces together and saw some really good things that were improvements from the last meet. They took a shot at getting closer to Air Force, and they did that.“

Freshman Habtamu Wetzel finished in ninth with a time of 23:54.8, running under 24 minutes for only the second time in his career. His run earned him Second-Team All-Mountain West honors. After a tightly contested start to the race, Wetzel rose from the bunch in the top 10. He remained one of the only non-New Mexico runners in the top group before the field leveled out. Wetzel was the only runner not on New Mexico’s or Air Force’s team in the top 16, an impressive feat in his first Mountain West championship.

The next three finishers for the Cowboys were right after another in 19th, 20th and 21st. Leading that group was sophomore Zak Ferguson with a time of 24:25.1. He moved up five places in the back half of the 8k in his first Division I conference championship race.

Next was junior Solomon Holden-Betts with a time of 24:25.2 for 20th overall. He was just two seconds off a personal best in his first cross country championship race. Holden-Betts moved up two spots in his final kick, nearly surpassing Ferguson at the line.

The last in the back-to-back-to-back Cowboy finishes was junior Anton Martinez. He came out the start fast, running in first at the 1k mark and seventh a kilometer later. He would find his pace and hover in and out of the top 20 to the finish.

Rounding out the scoring five was true freshman Owen Thiel in 24th. His time of 24:33.1 makes him the first Cowboy true freshman to score at the MW championships since 2021. He secured an all-top-24 scorers for the Cowboys for only the second time in MW history (2024).

Dahlberg added, “The future is very bright. A lot of guys were getting some invaluable experience that they will capitalize on in the future. I’m really proud of the effort and toughness they ran with today.”

Junior Austin Akers finished sixth for Wyoming with his time of 25:03.4 for 27th overall. This was also a personal best time for Akers, an improvement of 12 seconds on the season.

Next up was freshman Owen Conley with his time of 25:14.4 for 30th. He ran an impressive race, moving up at nearly every split from his 37th-place start.

Junior Tanner Brown crossed next at 25:16.4 for 32nd. Like the women’s side, many Cowboys ran near one another throughout the race, setting up a strong team performance. Brown was no different, switching places with Conley throughout the race. He also had a season best, shaving nearly a 1:30 off his first time.

Senior Aidan Ramsey would take 48th in the 8k with a time of 25:59.4 while freshman Jackson Davis wrapped Wyoming’s championship with a time of 26:46.5 for 60th.

UP NEXT

Wyoming will be guaranteed one more race this season at the NCAA Mountain Regional, Nov. 13 at the UNM North Course in Albuquerque, N.M. Only the top two teams at each regional earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, with another 14 at-large teams selected. The next four finishers at the regional not on a qualifying team will also advance along with four more at-large runners to the championships.

Stay up to date with Wyoming cross country by following @wyo_track on X and Instagram.