Cowboys to honor Wyoming 8 at halftime of Ball State game

Sep. 18—In-game tributes are nothing new at University of Wyoming football games, but the one scheduled for today is certain to bear more emotions than most.

The Cowboys are slated to honor the eight members of the UW cross-country team that had their lives taken on Sept. 16, 2001, when a drunk driver collided head-on with the Jeep Wagoneer they were traveling in just north of the Colorado border on U.S. Highway 287. Thursday marked the 20th anniversary of the tragic accident.

The victims of the crash — Cody Brown, Kyle Johnson, Josh Jones, Justin Lambert-Belanger, Morgan McLeland, Kevin Salverson, Nick Schabron and Shane Shatto — will be recognized at halftime of UW's game against Ball State, which is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium. Longtime UW broadcaster Kevin McKinney will voice the commemoration.

VOLLEYBALLThe Wyoming volleyball team lost in straight-sets Friday afternoon to No. 17 Creighton, in the opening match at the Wichita State Shocker Volleyball Classic in Wichita, Kan.

Set scores were 25-19, 25-10, 25-19.

The Cowgirls (6-4) were led offensively by Naya Shimé's nine kills, and Faith Waitsman added seven kills. As a team, UW struggled to get going offensively, hitting a season-low .016, while Creighton (10-1) hit just .174.

Defensively, Erika Jones led the Cowgirls with a season-best 18 digs, and Waitsman collected a career-high 13 digs of her own. Payton Chamberlain had 21 assists for a match high, to go with eight digs.

Overall, the Bluejays out-blocked Wyoming 9-3, while also collecting nine aces at the service line. UW did not record an ace. Waitsman and Lexie Collins, who was making her first career start had three blocking assists against Creighton.

Wyoming will look to bounce back with a pair of matches today. The Cowgirls will face host-Wichita State at 9 a.m. MST and South Dakota at 3:30 p.m.