BLACKSBURG, Va. – The High Point University men's track and field holds a lead after the first day of competition at Vector Field House. Tallying 78 points through five scored events, the Panthers are followed by Charleston Southern's 34 points, UNC Asheville with 27 points, Campbell with 22 points, and USC Upstate with 18 points to round out the top-five teams.
The HPU heptathletes hold the top three slots through four events and have two others in the top eight.
Kolt Byers accumulated 2,850 points with a first-place finish in the high jump and runner-up finishes in the long jump and shot put.
Evan Mills finished in the top-three places in each event (60m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump) to sit in second place with 2,817 points.
Felix LeBlanc rounded out the top-three with 2,537 points after a win in the shot put.
David Caivano finished the day with 2,373 points while
Nick Lourenco posted 2,260 points.
High Point was dominant in the pole vault, controlling the podium as
Jackson Tuomey won the event,
Gabe Imery was runner-up, and
Reid Holloway and
Nick Lourenco tied for third place. Tuomey cleared 5.05m to win his first Big South Championship as a Panther while Imery posted a personal-best with a mark of 4.95m, an improvement by 0.15m. Holloway and Lourenco tied for third at 4.85m while
Adam Craig was sixth with a mark of 4.65 and
Owen Williamson was eighth, clearing 4.35m.
In other field event action,
Chris Van Niekerk finished as the runner-up in the men's shot put, heaving a season-best 18.08m behind UNC Asheville's Solomon McDonald's 18.10m toss.
Alex Hoffman finished sixth in the event with a mark of 15.65m.
Freddie Allen III was also a runner-up in the men's long jump with a mark of 7.31m, just four centimeters off the top mark in the event.
Larry Coaxum was fourth with a personal-best mark of 7.02m and
Michael Henson was sixth after nearing his personal best, finishing with a 6.97m mark.
As running events began,
Terris Burton led off by qualifying for the finals in the 60m hurdles, running as the seventh qualifier in 8.46 seconds, a season best.
Deron Dudley (6.80) and
Ethan Roach (6.82) ran for fifth and sixth in the 60m dash, both moving on to the finals set for tomorrow (Saturday, February 25
th) at 3:15 p.m. Dudley qualified fourth for the men's 200m dash in 21.52 seconds while Roach was seventh in 21.62 seconds.
Graham Ferguson qualified second for the 800m run, finishing in 1;54.78 behind Charleston Southern's Rob Howorth. Ferguson also ran the 800m leg for the men's runner-up distance medley relay team that finished in 10:13.75. Other members of the squad included
Othmane El Gharissi,
Trent Strachan, and
Jake Tarosky. HPU also placed two runners in the top-five of the men's 5,000m run.
Hunter Steinau was third in 14:37.17 while
Ian Miller was fifth in 14:42.60.
Up Next: High Point continues to battle for another Big South title tomorrow at Vector Field House. Combined events are set to begin at 10:00 a.m. while field events will start at 1:00 p.m. with running events beginning at 3:00 p.m.
#DefendTheTeam x #GoHPU
