Charlottesville,Va.- The High Point University men's cross country team competed in the Panorama Farms Invitational on Friday morning, where they ran against some tough, ranked competition in the 8k. The Panthers finished 7th overall out of 15 teams.
 
"I don't think we performed very well today. We got scattered and people got a little self-absorbed," HPU Head Coach Mike Esposito said. "The good news is that on a conference level, it's still right there in front of us. We're still very capable of winning."
 
Even after a tough race, and the streak of three straight invitational wins was snapped... Coach Esposito knows that this team still has everything it needs to win heading into the Big South Championship. 
 
The Panthers were led once again this season by junior Avery Crowell. Crowell nearly missed his personal record by less than one second and ended up placing 49th overall with a time of 24.53.5. Less than 10 seconds later was fellow junior Gavin Stevens, who placed 58th. The junior duo upfront continues to race together and hold this Panther squad together up front.
 
Next was the Panthers' young underclassman core that finished within 27 seconds of each other. In this group were two former Big South Freshman runners of the week, Max Bonilla, who ran a 25.07.3, and Simon Treizenberg, who clocked a 25.34.3. Between these two were another freshman, Blake Nicholson, and sophomore Ari Snyder, who ran within 3 seconds of each other with times of 25.23.1 and 25.26.3, respectively.
 
Rounding out the top seven was junior Alex Contreras, who competed in his third meet of the season, hitting just above the 26-minute mark with a time of 26.18.4. Less than 6 seconds behind him was freshman Brendan Cook at 26.24.1. Even less of a margin was senior Evan Mills, who finished 0.1 seconds behind Cook at 26.24.2. 
 
After such a narrow finish by the middle pack, freshman Clark LaLomia finished a few second behind with a time of 26.33. Kyle Spencer finished right under 27 minutes with a time of 26.51.4 and Jake Fiorillo closed out the race right under the 28-minute mark by two seconds. 
 
After the race today, Coach Esposito is going to have his Panthers continue to keep up their training, which has been going really well, even though it might not be reflected from the race.

"With the Big South Championship right around the corner, now is the time to have your best race and run together," Esposito added. 
 
Up Next: High Point will compete next at the Big South Championship on October 31st in Farmville,VA. This is the second time this season the Panthers will race in Farmville after running the Lancer Pink Invitational in September. 

#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam