HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University men's and women's track and field teams hosted the Bob Davidson Team Challenge Friday and Saturday at Vert Stadium, which featured 20 events on each side, presented by Norris Woody.
Heading into day two, the High Point men were in first place with 48 points after four events, while the women were in third with 26 points following three completed events.
The Panther men kept the lead to win the team challenge behind 173 points scored, while the women were edged by Liberty by six points, 120-114.
Head Coach Mike Esposito: "Obviously pleased to win the men's side. It's one of the few opportunities before conference where you can compete to win as a team and something we take a lot of pride in. It was our intent to win on the women's side, so a little disappointed there that we didn't.
"We had several men that likely qualified for the NCAA First Round, which is neat. We had numerous PRs and great individual efforts, so that's a positive. I'd like to thank our staff because hosting a home meet is a big chore. I thought we did it well and now looking forward to some pretty big meets coming up at Texas, Raleigh and California."
Final results can be viewed
HERE.
Day One
The heptathlon began as
Kaitlyn Greene and
Ava Bugenhagen competed in four events to sit in second and third place, respectively. Will Reeves and
Nick Cramer participated in the decathlon and completed five events on Friday to sit in second and fourth in that order.
In the women's hammer,
Amanda Scattergood threw a new personal best (47.44m) for a top-15 finish.
The Panthers had four compete in the men's pole vault.
Reid Holloway cleared the 5.01m bar for a second-place finish, while
Maxwell Robinson,
Cole Wilson and Jake Morgan all cleared the 4.71m bar. Wilson's jump was a personal best as he jumped 16 centimeters higher than ever before.
In the women's javelin,
Letizia Jessica Marsico launched the javelin for a new personal best 36.61m for a seventh place.
Kelly Chaballa threw 37.00m for fourth place.
On the men's side,
Demetrio Lukaitis secured a second-place finish behind his first home javelin throw (53.01m) for a new personal best.
Brandon Lewis came in fourth with a 50.30m throw, while
Ryan Tenor Jr. (46.19m) and
Kevin Mitchell (36.77m) rounded out the Panther javelin throwers.
HPU took first place in both the men's and women's 5000m race as
Katie Taylor (16:58.94) and
Reuben Kosche (14:30.74) led the pack.
Elizabeth Ritter (17:48.39) and
Anna Ritter (17:50.98) clocked fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Kosche's finish set a new personal best, while
Ian Miller (14:37.07) crossed in fourth place and
Kyle Spencer clocked 15:00.53.
Day Two
The heptathlon and decathlon jumpstarted day two alike Friday's beginning. Bugenhagen scored 3,525 points for second place, while Greene racked up 3,325 points for a third-place finish in the hep.
Reeves' first-ever dec ended in a first-place finish behind 5,671 points as he surpassed a pair of Howard athletes; meanwhile, Cramer scored 4,894 points for fourth place.
In throws, Marsico highlighted the women's shot put with a second-place throw (13.64m). The men's shot put had two Panthers in the top three as
Chris Van Niekerk was first with a 17.80m throw, while
Nick Morse placed third (16.68m). Van Niekerk also showed out in the discus, tossing his season-best 58.76m for second.
HPU claimed first place in both the men's and women's high jump as
Andrew Taylor (2.10m) and
Sydney Koker (1.72m) finished first. The Panthers had three more men make noise in the high jump with
Shaun Thomas clearing the 2.07m bar for third, while
Alex Constantinou (2.02m) and
John Connors (1.97m) jumped to new personal-best clearances.
In the men's running events,
Othmane El Gharissi (3:47.31) and
Jason Thomson (3:47.50) finished first and second, respectively, in the 1500m.
Graham Ferguson (3:48.94) finished in fourth place. Thomson also competed in the 800m and led the Panthers with a team-best second-place finish (1:53.01), while Ferguson joined him and clocked third (1:53.61).
Jake Tarosky glided to a first-place finish in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9:10.67, while
Auriane Viola cleared 4.01m in women's pole vault for a third-place finish.
For the women's sprinters,
Dae'Nitra Hester was the standout as she won the 400m race at 54.57; meanwhile,
Nikki Frail clocked a third-place finish in the 800m behind a 2:12.33 time.
#GoHPU
