Lynchburg, Va. / Boston, Mass. - The High Point University men's and women's track and field team competed at the team's first indoor meet of the season. Competing at two different meets, a select group of athletes went to the Liberty Kickoff in Lynchburg, Virginia and another group traveled up to Boston Massachusetts for the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.
 
At the Liberty Kickoff, which took place on November 30 -December 1, multiple athletes finished in the top five in their respective events with one school record being broken. Shaun Thomas, a freshman who competed in the men's high jump, broke the program record in his season debut with a height of 2.10 meter. The previous record which was set by Ricky Silar and Benjamin Johnson was 2.03m. Thomas finished second overall in the meet.

NEW SCHOOL RECORD ????

Shaun Thomas clears 2.10m to break the previous school record of 2.03 which was set by Ricky Silar and Benjamin Johnson.#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam pic.twitter.com/LdLWLPC46r

— HPU T&F/XC (@HPUTrack) December 1, 2023

 
For the men's team, in the running events, Aiden Britt finished sixth in the 200m dash, Aidan Soto finished second in the 800m run while three panthers finished in the top ten in the 3000m run. Ian Miller crossed the finish line with a time of 8:27.37, followed by Jason Thomson at 8:30.00 in fourth place and Jake Tarosky in sixth with a time of 8:34.71.
 
The men's 4x400m relay team finished fifth overall with a time of 3:22.66. The team consisted of Marquis Belle, Kelly Bell, Zion Fearon and Britt.
 
Five men's pole vaulters competed as three finished in the top five. Jackson Tuomey came in second with a clearance of 5.00m. Maxwell Robinson came in third with a height of 4.70m while Adam Craig finished fifth with a height of 4.55m.
 
Chris Van Niekerk had the highest placement in the men's events, walking away with a first place finish in the shot put throwing a 17.64m. Nick Morse threw a 15.91 to finish in third while Timon Edelen threw a 14.23m for fifth place.
 
After a strong performance in the Heptathlon, David Caivano and Evan Mills finished in third and fourth out of 13 athletes, recording scores of 4581 and 4493 respectively. Caivano's top events were in the long jump (2^nd-place) and pole vault (2^nd). Mills scored high in the long jump (3^rd-place), 1000m run (2^nd) and the high jump (6^th).
 
As for the women's events at the Liberty Kickoff, Dae'Nitra Hester finished fifth in the women's 200m dash with a time of 25.3 seconds. In the 800m run, Nikki Frail was the only Panther to race in the event, finishing fourth with a time of 1:05.19.
 
In the women's one mile, three Panthers finished back-to-back. Carly McNatt crossed the line in second with a time of 5:14.90 in her season debut. Shauna Skow and Mikayla Moxley crossed the finish line in third and fourth with times of 5:18.10 and 5:20.18 respectively.
 
Rachel Vesper had the highest placement in a women's event coming in first in the pole vault after clearing a height 4.15m. Sydney Horn placed third with a height of 4.05m.
 
Letizia Marsico threw a 13.92m throw in the shot put to earn a second place finish.

At the Sharon Coylear-Danville Season Opener, a handful of distance runners competed in the men's 3000m race and the women's 5000m race. Graham Ferguson clocked an 8:18.15 in the men's 3000m. Katie Taylor PR'd in the women's 5000m with a time of 16:45 while Brianna Malone competed in her first ever 5000m race and recorded a time of 16:41.

Distance runners finished out the weekend in Boston!!??

Graham Ferguson: 3000m - 8:18.15
Brianna Malone: 5000m - 16:41
Katie Taylor: 5000m - 16:45 (PR)#GoHPU pic.twitter.com/gC1mQlCg05

— HPU T&F/XC (@HPUTrack) December 3, 2023

 
UP NEXT:
High Point has a month off until the Virginia Tech Invite during the weekend of January 12-13.