Boston, Mass. / Lynchburg, Va. / Norfolk, Va. – The High Point University men's and women's track and field teams split across three different meets over the weekend. The Panthers sent distance runners to Boston University for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, multiple events to Liberty University for the 11
th Annual Darius Dixon Invitational and a group of pole vaulters to Norfolk State University for the D1 Pre-Nationals Meet.
David Hemery Valentine Invitational – Boston, Mass.
In Boston, multiple athletes from both the men's and women's teams posted strong performances. On Friday,
Camerin Williams opened the day with an HPU record in the men's 800m race clocking a 1:50.08 time. This was the second time that Williams has broken the 800m record.
Later in the day,
Graham Ferguson broke the High Point record in the men's one mile with a time of 4:01.80 and is now ranked third all-time in Big South history.
On Saturday in Boston,
Brianna Malone raced in the women's 3000m and placed 27th overall out of 253 runners. Her 9:09.58 time is a High Point and Big South record after kicking it in gear on the last lap to take first in her heat.
"The trip to BU was overall a successful one," Coach
Remy Tamer stated. "Walking away with PRs, top-10 all-time performances, school/Big South records, and valuable racing experience that will carry over onto the championships in two weeks. Brianna continues to prove that she is one of the fiercest competitor in the NCAA. She raced like a champion today. Brianna raced with composure and made great tactical moves to place herself in a position to win her heat. In the final stages of the race she bet on herself and ran the field down for the win. She beat some exceptional athletes today. This was a huge step forward on her path. I'm proud of Brianna, Alyssa, and Charli for how well they competed and how they represented HPU on a national stage."
11th Annual Darius Dixon Invitational – Lynchburg, Va.
In the women's running events
Quiana Williams, placed eighth overall in the 200m dash after recording a 24.93 time.
Dae'Nitra Hester had strong performances in the 200m and the 400m races. She placed 13th in the 200m with a 24.84 time and seventh in the 400m with a 56.68 time.
In the women's 1000m, Alice Jones recorded a new personal best with a 2:56.93 time to finish in fourth place overall. She later placed second in the 3000m with another personal best time of 10:01.94.
Lindsay Cooper and
Gianna Paul made it through the 60m hurdle semi-finals to compete in the finals. Cooper crossed the finish line in fourth with an 8.59 time while Paul placed sixth with an 8.73 time.
As a team, the 4x400m women's relay team of
Ebba Ahman, Cooper,
Ashari Pearson and Hester clocked a 3:52.49 time for seventh place.
In the men's running events,
Keshon Sapp took home first place in the 200m dash with a 21.51 time recording a new personal best. He also competed in the men's 60m and clocked a 7.04 time.
Also running in the men's 200m,
Tim Brown placed fourth with a 21.66 time and
Myles Darroch placed seventh with a 21.81 time. Darroch later competed in the 400m dash open event and finished fifth with a 48.81 time.
In the 400m dash invite event, Brown had the highest placement from the Panthers in fifth with a 47.84 time followed by
Marquis Belle in fifth with a 47.84 time.
In the men's one mile race,
Gavin Stevens took second place with a 4:16.69 time.
Rounding out the running events, High Point's 4x400m men's relay team consisting of
Aidan Britt,
Kelly Bell, Brown and Belle took second place with a 3:11.82 time.
In the men's field events,
Andrew Taylor placed second in the high jump invite event after clearing 2.05m. For the second time this season,
Justin Sluijter took first place in the long jump after jumping 7.53m.
Mobu Nwakor posted a strong jump in the triple jump and placed fourth overall with a 14.42m jump.
Alex Hoffman placed in the top 10 in the men's shot put and weight throw. He threw 15.55m in the shot put and 17.71m in the weight throw.
D1 Pre-Nationals Meet – Norfolk, Va.
The High Point men's and women's pole vault teams competed at the D1 Pre-Nationals meet and had quite the showing as a team. The HPU men placed first through sixth as a team led by
Ricardo Montes de Oca who cleared 5.40m. Three other Panthers cleared 5.00m including
Reid Holloway with a career best 5.30m, and Jackson Toumey and
Cole Wilson each clearing 5.00m. Wilson's 5.00m was a career best jump.
As for the women,
Sydney Horn led the way with a season best 4.50m jump to take first place. She was .01 meters away from tying her own record.
Emily Romano and
Eva Piscitelli also placed in the top five both clearing 3.65m.
UP NEXT:
High Point competes at the Virginia Tech Challenge next weekend beginning on February 21 in Blacksburg, Virginia. This will be HPU's final meet before the Big South Indoor Championships.
#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam
