Blacksburg, Va. – The High Point men's and women's track and field teams opened the New Year with a meet at the Virginia Tech Invite. The Panthers competed against multiple power five opponents and set multiple personal bests.
A highlight from the meet was
Andrew Taylor and
Shaun Thomas competing in the men's high jump. In Taylor's first meet with HPU, he set a new school record with a height of 2.16m which was previously set by Thomas in December at 2.10m. Taylor finished first overall while Thomas was right behind in fourth with a height of 2.11 for a new personal best.
Site: Rector Field House
Opening the first night in the women's distance events,
Brianna Malone crushed the women's one mile run. Leading through majority of the race, she kicked it in during the final 200m lap and separated from the pack, cruising in at first place with a time of 4:55.95.
Nikki Frail competed in the women's 1000m race and recorded a personal best with a time of 3:05.67.
Katie Taylor finished second overall in the women's 3000m race and recorded a personal best 9:44.07.
Two Panthers recorded personal bests in the weight throw competitions. For the men,
Timon Edelen threw 15.98m while
Letizia Marsico threw 15.19m to represent the women.
Making the finals,
A'lajuwan Robinson and
Tyneilus Morrow finished third and sixth respectively in the men's 60m sprint. After running a 6.76 in the prelims, Robinson ran a 6.74 in the finals, just .02 seconds from tying the program record. Morrow ran a personal best 6.86.
New program best times were recorded in the men's and women's 300m races as
Dae'Nitra Hester ran a 39.10 for a third-place finish while
Marquis Belle finished ninth for the men with a time of 35.39.
Capping off the first night in the field events, two Panthers finished in the top three in the men's pole vault. Both registering personal bests at 4.90m,
Maxwell Robinson finished second and
Reid Holloway finished third.
Evan Mills competed in the men's long jump and jumped a distance of 6.85m for a new career best.
Day two for the Panthers began with the women's pole vault.
Sydney Horn jumped a season best 4.37m and earned a spot in second place.
Hester kicked off day two in the running events competing in the women's 400m. Striding into first place, she recorded a time of 56.27. She later competed in the 200m dash and recorded a season best 24.86 seconds for a fourth place finish out of 17 competitors.
In the men's 800m race,
Reilly Mazzetti ran a personal best time of 1:58.09 for a first-place finish.
In the field events to round out the final day,
Chris Van Niekerk threw a distance of 17.77m in the men's shot put and placed second overall.
Jackson Tuomey in the men's pole vault event registered a personal best 5.20m to finish in the top 10 in seventh place.
UP NEXT:
High Point returns to Blacksburg, Virginia the following weekend for a two-day meet at the Hokie Invitational beginning on January 19.
#GoHPU
