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The High Point University women's track & field team ranks sixth at the Big South Championship, just 5.5 points behind third-place Radford with one day remaining. On Friday, sophomore Christina Fenske tied for second in the high jump and senior Geneva Winterink placed third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

“Christina continued her great consistency in the high jump, she has competed in four Big South Championships and finished second or better every time,” said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. “It was exciting to see Geneva make the podium as a senior, and also good to see Kelsey Frasier up in fourth in the steeplechase.”

Liberty leads the meet with 89.5 points, just ahead of second-place Coastal Carolina, which has 84. Radford ranks third with 37.5 points to maintain a small edge over Charleston Southern (36), Gardner-Webb (33) and High Point (32). Winthrop sits in seventh with 26 points, VMI eighth with eight points and UNC Asheville ninth with five.

In the high jump, the top three all cleared 5-5.25. However, winner Kandisa Allicock of Coastal Carolina had fewer misses to win the event. Fenske and Radford's Kaylor Vaughn had an equal number of misses to tie for second, each taking home seven points.

In just her second steeplechase ever, Winterink was in contention all the way. Liberty's Hailey Neal pulled away for the win in 11:01.57 and Radford's Brittany Christian was runner-up in 11:03.33. The less experienced Winterink couldn't cover the last lap surge, but still finished in a career-best 11:16.82. HPU sophomore Kelsey Frasier was the next runner across the line, picking up five points for the Panthers with her time of 11:50.99. Sophomore Kelsey Hinchliffe placed 13th.

Sophomore Gabrielle Barnes had a strong performance in the seven-event heptathlon, placing sixth with 3,924 points. Her top event was the 200-meter dash, where she finished in 26.95 seconds to earn 716 points. Senior Kara Boatman placed eighth in the shot put with a throw of 36-9.

“Gabrielle got us off to a great start today,” said Esposito. “She was ninth with two events left in the heptathlon and rallied to finish sixth.”

Sophomore Manika Gamble won her preliminary heats in both the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles to qualify for Saturday's finals in both events. She finished the 100-meter hurdles in 14.07 and clocked in at 1:02.53 in the 400-meter hurdles. Joining Gamble in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles will be sophomore Erin Lonon, who qualified by virtue of her time of 1:05.32.

“The hurdles will be really exciting tomorrow,” said Esposito. “Manika should be right up there in both events. It was certainly positive to get both runners through in the 400 hurdles.

The meet continues on Saturday with the women's discus starting at 10 a.m. and continues through the 4x400-meter relay at 3:55 p.m.