A season to remember

LARAMIE – The 2017-18 sports season began for the University of Wyoming women's soccer team by dropping a 2-1 decision at Baylor on Aug. 20 and ended with Ja'la Henderson earning her second honorable mention in the All-American honors at the NCAA Track and Field Championships on June 9.

In between, UW's 15 varsity athletic programs provided moments, games and performances that Cowboy and Cowgirl fans will cherish for a long, long time.

The season produced one conference champion – the men's swimming and diving team – and enough heart-pounding moments to keep the UW faithful occupied until the 2018-19 season kicks off, again with Cowgirls soccer.

Here's a look at my top 10 moments:

1. Meredith wrestles for NCAA title again

Cheyenne's Bryce Meredith has helped UW wrestling climb in national recognition during his three years wearing the Brown and Gold. His "worst" finish at the NCAA Championships during the last three seasons was when he placed fourth as a junior after advancing to the finals as a sophomore.

Meredith was poised to do great things at the NCAA Championships in March, and he did.

Ranked No. 1 at 141 pounds since December, he won four matches to reach the championship against Cornell's Yianni Diakomihalis.

In one of the top championship matches of the night, Meredith led Diakomihalis into the third period before the Cornell freshman scored four points with a cradle move in the final seconds for a 7-4 decision.

Still, Meredith stopped nearly the entire state of Wyoming to watch the championship match.

Meredith finished his UW career just one of three wrestlers all-time to earn three or more All-American honors.

2. Allen picked No. 7 overall in NFL draft

Another moment when most of the state stopped and watched came in late April when former UW quarterback Josh Allen was front and center at the NFL draft.

Allen, who led UW to 16 wins over his two seasons as a starter, had been mentioned as a top draft pick for the 2018 draft as early as the day the 2017 draft was ending.

On April 26, all the conjecture became reality when Allen became the highest drafted player in Cowboys history by getting taken No. 7 overall by the Buffalo Bills.

UW fans lined the streets in downtown Laramie to see when and where Allen would go and erupted when his name was called.

3. Cowboys beat Wolf Pack in classic

There have been a lot of great basketball games inside the Arena-Auditorium since it opened in February of 1982.

Add Jan. 24 to the list, with UW beating Nevada 104-103 in double overtime.

UW hosted No. 23 Nevada that night in what looked to be a rather ordinary late-January game.

The Cowboys were stuck in neutral to open Mountain West play at 3-3, while the Wolf Pack came in leading the league at 7-0.

But the night turned out to be anything but ordinary.

The game produced 16 lead changes and 14 ties with UW leading 38-35 at the half.

The Cowboys led by eight points with eight minutes to go before the Wolf Pack rallied to take a two-point lead late in regulation. UW's Justin James, who finished with 33 points and 10 rebounds, tied the game with a driving layup to send the game to overtime.

Nevada led by four points with just under two minutes to go in the first overtime before UW tied it again.

In the second overtime, UW led throughout, including 100-94 with 1 minute, 10 seconds to play. Guards Nyaires Redding and Louis Adams each made two free throws in the final 16 seconds to seal the win.

Hayden Dalton added 25 points and nine rebounds for UW, while Adams chipped in 17.

Nevada would go on to win the MW tournament and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 before losing to Loyola.

4. Cowboys football wins bowl game

Behind the return of Allen from a shoulder injury, the Cowboys wrapped up the 2017 season with a convincing 37-14 win over Central Michigan in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho.

The Cowboys dominated the game from the start, with Allen throwing three first-quarter touchdown passes for a 27-7 halftime lead.

The win was punctuated by Carl Granderson's 58-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

UW won its first bowl game since 2009 and played in back-to-back bowl games for the first time in three decades.

After the game, Allen announced he was declaring for the NFL draft.

5. UW men's swimming and diving win title

In coach Dave Denniston's first season, the Cowboys swimming and diving team broke a 59-year drought by winning the Western Athletic Conference championship in Houston.

The Cowboys scored 851 points to beat pre-race favorite UNLV by 71 points.

Denniston was named WAC Coach of the Year, while assistant coach Kyle Bogner earned Diving Coach of the Year honors. UW's Scotia Mullin, who won both the 3-meter and platform diving, was named WAC Diver of the Year.

6. Roberts returns to Cowgirls after knee injury

The UW women's basketball program's plan was to go slow with the recovery and return of senior guard Liv Roberts from an ACL injury the previous season. Roberts had surgery on her right ACL on April 15, and the normal recovery period for such an injury is between nine and 12 months.

Roberts proved she was anything but normal.

Less than seven full months after the surgery, Roberts was in uniform and started the Cowgirls' season opener against Adams State. Roberts responded the only way she knew how, leading the team in scoring with 14 points and adding four rebounds in 16 minutes of action.

The senior would go on to lead UW in scoring, finish second in rebounding and was named MW Player of the Year.

7. Cowboys beat Rams in the snow

You've got to have several factors to make a game an instant classic.

When it comes to football, weather is usually one of them.

The Cowboys hosted Border War rival Colorado State on Nov. 4 in a game that started with relatively benign conditions. The weather quickly deteriorated in the second half and made for one of the more magical games between the two rivals.

As a steady snow started to fall in the second half in Laramie, the two foes played a close-to-the-vest game where CSU eventually built a 13-9 lead with 11 minutes to play.

First, the Cowboys defense came up big, stopping the Rams on downs at the UW 31 with seven minutes to go.

Then, in what some called a snow storm, the Cowboys put together a drive for the ages. UW went 69 yards on seven plays – highlighted by a diving 17-yard catch by fullback Drew Van Maanen on third down – and culminating in a three-yard scoring run by Kellen Overstreet for a 16-13 lead with 4:21 to go.

After the Cowboys forced a CSU punt, UW ran out the remaining 2:38 for the win.

UW players then raced to claim the snow-covered Bronze Boot trophy on a night many UW fans will never forget.

8. Henderson excels in postseason for UW track

In the matter of a month, UW junior Ja'la Henderson rewrote the Cowgirls record book in triple jump and long jump.

Henderson first won both events at the MW Championship in early May, and then surprised the entire field to win the NCAA West Preliminary meet in triple jump two weeks later. Henderson also qualified for nationals in long jump in the same meet.

Henderson then finished 15th in triple jump and 17th in long jump at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, earning honorable mention All-American honors in both events. It was the first such honor in Cowgirls triple jump history and the first in long jump since 1980.

9. UW volleyball earns first postseason appearance since '94

The regular season wasn't going like the Cowgirls had hoped, but a school record six-game winning streak early in MW play propelled UW to its first-ever second-place finish in the league.

That finish helped UW secure a spot in the newly-formed National Invitational Volleyball Championship, the program's first postseason tournament since 1994.

UW would lose 3-0 to TCU in the first round of the tournament.

10. Cowboys topple Boise State in overtime

Three weeks before its epic win over Nevada, the UW men's basketball team pulled off another memorable win by topping Boise State 79-78 in overtime in Laramie.

UW trailed the Broncos by 16 points at halftime and by four in the overtime before ending the game on a 9-4 run for the win when Boise State missed a shot at the buzzer.

Dalton led UW with 29 points and 12 rebounds in the win.