HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women's track and field team scored 154 points to finish as the runners-up of the second annual Meet of Champions, presented by Norris Woody. The Panthers won eight events including the 3,000m steeplechase, long jump, triple jump, high jump, 400m hurdles, 100m hurdles, 800m run, and 5,000m run.
Head coach
Mike Esposito: "Today we hosted a track meet and kept score as sports were intended to be. Today, as a team, both men's and women's programs go beat. We believe it is very important for our kids to be exposed to true team competition. We as coaches need to be held accountable more than just on conference weekend. Our facilities are top notch, the presentation by our support staff is exceptional, and the weather certainly cooperated as well. We certainly want to thank Mr. Norris Woody for his generous contributions to our programs. We could not host such a high-end meet without his support. Moving forward, we are approaching our championship season. The foundation has been laid throughout the year for what is directly in front of us. It's time for us to take advantage of the months of preparation. In the field of opportunity, it's plowing time again."
In field event action,
Alicia Dawson picked up two wins and 20 team points in the long jump and triple jump. Dawson won the long jump with a mark of 5.96m, a season best, and the triple jump at 12.06m.
Sydney Koker also won the high jump, clearing an outdoor season-best bar at 1.73m. Koker is now 36
th in the NCAA East region while Dawson is 23
rd in the triple jump with her mark from the VertKlasse Meeting on April 1
st.
Rachel Vesper also finished second in the pole vault with a mark of 4.05m, moving her up to 22
nd in the East.
On the track,
Lindsay Cooper also picked up two gold medals in both hurdle races and improved her regional times along the way. Cooper won the 100m hurdles early on in the afternoon in a time of 13.43 seconds with a legal regional wind aid (+2.8). She returned for the 400m hurdles later on and edged teammate
Ebba Ahman down the home stretch for a new personal best, 59.47 seconds. Ahman finished as the runner-up in 1:00.16, also her personal best while third in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.89 seconds, a season best.
The Panther distance runners continued their dominance, claiming wins in the 1,500m, 3,000m steeplechase, and 5,000m run.
Tessa Webb began running events with another win in the steeple, finishing in 11:07.92 while
Madeline Quinn (6
th, 11:56.77) and
Lauren Vossen (9
th, 12:47.04) each competed in the event for the first time in their careers.
Olive Allen also tried out a new event, winning the 5,000m by over 20 seconds with a time 16:53.20.
Nikki Frail bested her previous personal record in the 800m run, winning the event in 2:10.07.
HPU sprinters
Dae'Nitra Hester and
Marissa Blakely finished in the top-eight in the women's 400m dash. Hester ran a season best for fourth place in 54.75 seconds while Blakely was sixth with a season best in 55.43 seconds. Hester also finished seventh in the 200m with a personal best time of 24.37 seconds. The women's 4x400m relay team of Cooper, Ahman, Blakely, and Hester combined for a season-best time of 3:44.89 for a second-place finish to close out the meet.
Up Next: High Point travels to Virginia next weekend for the UVA Challenge. The meet will take place from Thursday, April 20
th, to Saturday, April 22
nd.
#DefendTheTeam x #GoHPU
