GREENVILLE, N.C. — The High Point University men's cross country team competed in the Dill Family Foundation Pirate Cross Country Invitational early Saturday morning and came out on top. This is the team's third straight first-place overall finish (35 points); something of which has never happened in program history. Every time the Panthers recorded individually, was a personal record for the runner.
"In any other sport, we would be bragging that we're undefeated. Like 18-0 or something, you know. We ran pretty well up front, but we cannot have a 50-second spread, one, two, five, or 45 seconds in hope to win," HPU Head Coach Mike Esposito said. "You know, the intent was to group up through 4K. We did and I'd give us about a B on that because we got splintered before the 4K, getting some inconsistency back four through eight. It's good news. Bad news means we have some depth. The bad news is that some of these guys are having up-and-down races. I'm not seeing that every week. I'm seeing a group that runs collectively together well, and then on the only time they don't is on race day. And that's where we are going to make our biggest gain moving forward."
As a team, the Panthers had two top-10 finishers and four runners within the top 15. Gavin Stevens set a personal record, a third-place finish with a best time of 24:13.23. Stevens stayed consistent throughout the entire race at the front of the pack.
After coming off a first overall finish at the Lancer Pink Invitational, Avery Crowell finished sixth overall with a personal best time of 24:18.06. Big South Conference Freshman of the Week Simon Triezenberg continued his early-collegiate success with an 11th-place finish. He clocked in with a new personal best time of 24:46.03.
A three-second difference separated Clark LaLomia (15th) and Kyle Spencer (16th). LaLomia recorded a finish of 24:59.22, and Spencer was just over 25 minutes at 25:02.88, both times were personal bests.
The Panthers' other former Big South Freshman of the Week honoree, Max Bonilla, cracked the top 20 at 25:06.33 with a new PR. Sophomore Ari Snyder sat behind him for the Panthers. The second-year runner wound up with a time of 25:22.59 which was also a personal best.
Brendan Cook finished with a 25:40.42 time, and Alex Contreras, competing in his second meet of the season, was just over five seconds behind him (25:45.86), each registering personal bests. Blake Nicholson reached the sub-26 mark at 25:51.69 for a new personal best. Seniors Jake Fiorillo and Evan Mills clocked in times of 26:03.31 and 26:32.05, respectively. Fiorillo registered a season best time and Mills recorded a new personal best time.
The Panthers made progress running as a unit and grouping together, and despite the first-place overall finish there is always room to improve as the Panthers want to continue to dominate.
As Coach Esposito said, the team has the depth this season. When the team finds the balance Esposito is looking for, the Panthers have a chance to have a dominant rest of the 2025 campaign.
Up Next: High Point will compete next in exactly two weeks in the Panorama Farms Invite hosted by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. The meet will take place on Friday, October 17.
#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam
