BLACKSBURG, Va / CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – On Friday and Saturday, the High Point University men's and women's track and field teams competed at the Virginia Tech Invite hosted at Virginia Tech and the Dick Taylor Challenge hosted by the University of North Carolina.

"Clearly on the men's side, this was probably one of our best team meets starting off in January," Head Coach Mike Esposito exclaimed. "Coach Houston's group on the men's side had the best collective performance in the men's vault in school history. Coach Pruitt's group is getting better by the day with young passion. Our 4x400 ran an outstanding meet here at VT at 3:11.22 and we had very solid open 400 times from all who ran. We have a great staff and they are continuing to develop and show the promise our teams have this year. I feel like this is another step in right direction for a very special season."
 
It was a record-breaking weekend for the Panthers as 11 athletes were a part of breaking multiple indoor records.
 
At the Virginia Tech Invite, multiple records were broken. On Friday evening, Graham Ferguson crushed the 1000-meter race and clocked in a 2:23.77 time to finish in first place overall which is now second all-time in Big South history. In the women's 60m dash, Quiana Williams, a freshman, placed second and broke the women's indoor record with a time of 7.51 seconds.
 
On Saturday, three more indoor records were broken including the men's pole vault record, the men's 400m record and the men's 4x400m record. Kicking off the morning in the men's pole vault, Ricardo Montes de Oca set out on a high climb. After surpassing his previous record from a week ago at 5.33m, Montes de Oca soared over multiple bars to clear 5.57m and place first overall. The 5.57m clearance is the High Point, Big South and Venezuelan National indoor records and is currently tied for the second-best height in NCAA. Continuing the record-breaking day, Tim Brown broke the 400m record with a time of 47.63. Along with Brown, Aidan Britt (47.91), Camrin Williams (48.10) and Kelly Bell (48.30) all recorded times that broke the previous program record in the 400m. Closing out the night, the men's 4x400m relay team set the program record with a time of 3:11.22 for second place overall behind Virginia Tech.

"Today was the best men's vault day in school history," Head Pole Vault Coach Scott Houston stated. "Of course Ricardo had an unbelievable day with a lifetime best at 5.57. We are working very well together to start off this season. I'm very excited to continue his growth in consistency so we can prepare to compete against the best in the NCAA. 

I have to say it was extremely special having four High Point athletes all over 5.17 in Reid Holloway, Maxwell Robinson, and Jackson Tuomey adding to Ricardo's stellar jump. The best men's show by far in school history!"
 
Williams and Lindsay Cooper competed in the women's 200m and placed fifth and ninth respectively with times of 24.82 and 25.13 for season bests. Cooper also competed in the women's 60m hurdles and finished with an 8.65 second time for fifth place in the finals. In the women's 400m, Ebba Ahman placed ninth overall with a season best 58.24 time. Wrapping up the track events for the women, the 4x400m relay team placed seventh overall with a season-best time of 3:52.74.
 
Marquis Belle placed sixth overall in the men's 60m dash clocking a time of 6.88. Freshman Dominiq Northington placed third overall in the men's 200m race with a personal best time of 22.09. Justin Sluijter was the lone Panther to compete in the men's long jump and placed ninth overall after jumping 6.94m.
 
At the Dick Taylor Challenge, the men's and women's high jump and weight throw teams competed on Friday evening. The men opened the high jump with three athletes making it to the 2.05m bar. Andrew Taylor and Shaun Thomas both cleared 2.10m as Taylor placed first and Thomas placed second. Alex Constantinou took fourth place after clearing 2.05m. On the women's high jump team, Gianna Paul had a solid night as she placed second overall after clearing 1.67m.
 
In the men's weight throw, Alex Hoffman placed fifth overall after throwing the weight throw 17.23m.
 
On Saturday afternoon multiple combined events athletes competed in various events. Paul made the 60m hurdle finals and placed sixth with a time of 8.87 seconds. Elise Magaard competed in her first meet in a High Point jersey since joining the team in January and placed eighth in the women's shot put after throwing 11.21m. Hoffman threw in the men's shot put and placed seventh after throwing 15.51m.
 
UP NEXT:
High Point will compete at the 5th Annual Brant Tolsma Invitational at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia on January 23-25.