Charlotte, N.C. – The High Point men's and women's track and field teams opened the 2024 outdoor season just a couple towns south at the 49er Classic hosted at UNC Charlotte.
The Panthers kicked off the meet on Friday, as the running events proceeded after a weather delay.
In the track events, the women's 100-meter hurdles took the attention of the fans first. High Point's
Lindsay Cooper and
Gianna Paul finished fourth and sixth respectively as Cooper recorded a time of 14.15 seconds and Paul a time of 14.50 seconds. As for the men's 110m hurdles,
Antonio Votour had the highest placement for the Panthers with a time of 15.51 seconds for 10
th place overall. Cooper later competed in the women's 400m hurdles and placed fourth overall with a time of 1:02.83.
Deron Dudley earned two first place finishes over the two days, finishing first in the men's 100m dash with a time of 10.42 on Friday and helped his team of
Marquis Belle,
Tyneilus Morrow, and
Isaac McGinnis in the men's 4x100m relay to a first-place finish with a time of 40.95 seconds.
Aidan Britt took home first-place in the men's 400m race with a time of 48.69 seconds while Belle also finished in the top-10 at No. 9 with a time of 49.48.
In the field events on Friday, HPU had representatives in the women's pole vault group A and group B. In group B,
Angie Davis and
Kaitlin Richards tied for second, both clearing a height of 3.30m. Later in group A,
Auriane Viola placed fifth with a height of 3.77m.
In the men's high jump section B,
John Connors placed fourth with a height of 1.80m. Later in the men's high jump section A,
Shaun Thomas and
Alex Constantinou finished third and fourth respectively both clearing a height of 1.95m.
Letizia Marsico competed in the women's discus throw on Friday night and competed in the shot put on Saturday. She placed fifth in the discus throwing after launching the discus 45.76m for a personal best. On Saturday she took seventh, throwing the shot put 14.05m.
Returning to Charlotte on Saturday, High Point started the running events with the first-place win in the men's 4x100m relay.
Representing HPU in the women's 200m dash, three Panthers placed in the top-15 overall. Cooper placed eighth with a time of 24.76 seconds, followed by
Dae'Nitra Hester in ninth just tenths of seconds behind Cooper with a time of 24.85, and Paul in 15
th with a time 25.23 in her first outdoor meet.
HPU closed out the running events and the meet with the men's 4x400m relay race. The Panthers placed fourth overall with a time of 3:14.64.
In Saturday's field events,
Reid Holloway took home another first place prize in the men's pole vault group A after clearing a personal best height of 5.05m.
Jake Morgan and
Maxwell Robinson placed third and fifth respectively with heights of 4.75m and 4.60m to also earn personal bests.
In the throwing events,
Chris Van Niekerk finished second in the men's discus after throwing 55.89m while
Nick Morse placed eighth in the men's shot put with a 15.84m throw.
Karlea Duhon threw a personal best 42.02m in the women's javelin to earn a spot in fourth place.
Three Panthers placed in the top 10 in the women's jumping events as
Sydney Koker placed fourth in the high jump A section clearing a height of 1.65m and
Amelia Moreland placed seventh in the high jump B section with a height of 1.47m.
Larissa Maxwell made it to the finals in the triple jump and placed ninth with a jump of 10.90m.
UP NEXT:
High Point will prepare to host the team's first home meet of the outdoor season on Friday March 22-March 23 at Vert Stadium. The Bod Davidson Team Challenge/Bill Webb Combined Events meet with begin Friday at 2:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
