Jay Cox

Powell High School graduate Jay Cox has continued to climb the rankings at the University of Wyoming in his junior year, excelling at the indoor level and climbing into the top 10 all-time records for both the 200 and 400 meters in track and field.

“Things have been really good,” Cox said. “I feel like each year has brought something new which I really appreciate about the experience — it really hasn’t felt stagnant.”

Cox has shot up the rankings over the past couple of years he has competed, moving up to fourth all-time for the indoor 400 (48.08) and ninth in the 200 (21.78).

He said that this leap didn’t come because of any major changes, but just staying the course he was on the previous two years.

“I don’t think it was anything that drastically changed, I think it was just keeping on the road I was already on,” Cox said. “I think my coach has always seen that trajectory and made sure to do things to keep me on it… If I had to pick anything that has improved the most from last year to this year is my race strategy.”

Continuing to perform in the classroom and as an athlete has been a balancing act that Cox said has continued to be a challenge, especially as his classes have started to ramp up off the track.

“It just gets harder, but you adapt to the workload — it always seems it’s as hard as it can be until it gets harder,” Cox said. “I am definitely up to the challenge of that, it has taught me a lot. It has taught me to have some excellent time management skills.”

As part of his season, Cox joined the University of Wyoming media team on a stop in Powell last week, coming to Powell High School to talk to students about the university.

“It’s really cool to be asked to come here and represent UW and talk about the things I like about it,” Cox said. “It was a little surreal because I looked out over the crowd of students and saw more faces I didn’t recognize than faces I did — it was still really cool to come back and be a representative of the university in a couple of different respects.”

Continuing in the outdoor season, Cox said his goal is to reach the top eight at the Mountain West Championships.

He said the 400 has continued to become tougher, with times becoming faster and tougher to beat to reach the top eight.

A goal he has in the outdoor season is to break 47 seconds, which would likely see him leapfrog into the top three all-time outdoor times at UW.

He plans to continue focusing on his studies off the track, hoping that the workload will lighten up heading into his senior year.