Long Beach, Calif. / Durham, N.C. / Azusa, Calif. – The High Point men's and women's track and field teams were spread out across the country during the weekend of April 11-13. A multitude of athletes made a trip out west to California to compete in three different meets, consisting of some sprinters, throwers, pole vaulters, a few members of the women's distance team and some combined events athletes. Staying home in North Carolina, the men's distance team traveled to Duke University for the Duke Invitational.
 
Pacific Coast Invitational
 
At the Pacific Coast Invitational on Thursday, the throwers kicked the events off as four athletes from the men's team competed in the javelin, shot put and discus while one athlete represented the women in the shot put and discus throws.
 
Chris Van Niekerk had the best throw in the men's shot put and discus events from the High Point crew. He threw 17.49m in the shot put to land ninth overall out of 51 competitors and 52.94m in the discus to finish 22nd out of 56 competitors.
 
On the women's side, Letizia Jessica Marsico placed 14^th overall in the shot put with a 14.15m throw and later placed 23^rd in the discus with a 44.74m launch.
 
In the running events, multiple athletes placed in the top 10 in their respective events. As a team, the men's 4x100m relay team placed ninth with a time of 41.29 seconds. Dae'Nitra Hester placed eighth in the women's 400m dash with a time of 5.34 seconds. In the men's 100m race, Deron Dudley placed fifth with a time of 10.44 seconds while A'lajuwan Robinson placed 10^th with a time of 10.49 seconds. Robinson later placed sixth in the 200m dash with a time of 21.37 seconds. In the women's pole vault, Auriane Viola closed out the night with a tie for ninth place after clearing 3.91m. Reid Holloway was one place shy of cracking top 10 in the men's pole vault, placing 11th with a height of 5.01m.
 
Bryan Clay Invitational
 
On Thursday, the start of the decathlon and heptathlon kicked off as HPU had three male athletes competing in the decathlon and one female athlete competing in the heptathlon.
 
Cole Wilson led Group C of the decathlon following the first day of events with a score of 3982 points, as he recorded personal bests in four of the first five events. On day two he added two more personal bests and placed first overall. He broke the program record with 7431 points.
 
100m-11.03 (PB)
LJ-7.21m (PB)
SP-14.01m (PB)
HJ-1.93m
400m-50.42 (PB)
110mH-15.59
DT-40.27m
PV-4.80m (PB)
JT-45.39
1500m-4:48.21(PB)
 
On Friday night, a few distance runners competed in the 5000m races. Both Katie Taylor and Othmane El Gharissi broke the men's and women's program records in the 5000m. Taylor ran a 16:18.62 to place 13th overall while El Gharissi placed eighth with a time of 13:50.42.
 
Duke Invitational
 
A handful of athletes from the men's distance team competed at the Duke Invitational on Friday night. In the men's 3000m steeplechase, Jake Tarosky came in second with a personal best time of 9:02.37.
 
Beach Invitational
 
After competing at the Pacific Coast Invitational on Thursday, those athletes competed at the Beach Invitational at Long Beach State on Saturday.
 
In the sprinting events, Dae'Nitra Hester placed eighth in the 400m dash with a time of 55.11. Deron Dudley on the men's side also came in eighth place but in the 100m dash with a time of 10.29. Dudley later raced in the men's 200m dash and recorded a time of 21.63 seconds for 20th overall.
 
In both women's hurdle events, Lindsay Cooper placed 12th in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.73 and 13th in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:01.57.
 
In the throwing events, Chris Van Niekerk placed fifth in the men's shot put after throwing 18.02m.
 
Auriane Viola tied for fourth in the women's pole vault, clearing 4.06m, which is her highest jump this outdoor season with the Panthers. Gabe Imery and Maxwell Robinson placed in the top 20 in the men's pole vault as Imery cleared 4.85m and Robinson cleared 3.71m.
 
Up Next:
High Point travels to Wake Forest on Friday April 19 for the Wake Forest Invitational.