BLACKSBURG, Va. – The High Point University Men's Track and Field Team opened the weekend at the Virginia Tech Invitational with a strong showing across multiple event groups, highlighted a competitive performance in the jumps, throws, and sprints as the Panthers continue early-season preparations.
The weekend opened with a major milestone on Friday, when Justin Sluijter broke the school long jump record with a leap of 7.70 meters, surpassing his previous mark set in 2025 at the Big South Indoor Championships. His performance set the tone for a standout meet across the board. Cole Wilson placed third in the long jump with a 7.20m mark.
The meet's biggest highlight came in the pole vault, where Ricardo Monte de Oca reset the Big South and program records with a vault of 5.67m on his first attempt at that bar. Montes de Oca broke his own record (5.60m) which he set in 2025 at the Doc Hale Meet at Virginia Tech. The performance is expected to secure his sport at the indoor national championships. De Oca also produced near-miss attempts at 5.75 meters, showing a consistency in training.
Head Coach of the Pole Vault, Scott Houston praised the weekend's accomplishments stating, "On Saturday at the Virginia Tech Invitational, Ricardo [Montes de Oca] is obviously the highlight. He ended up jumping 5.67m in the pole vault, and that should secure his spot for the indoor national championship again, which we are very excited about. He had very close attempts at 5.75m, but mostly just excited for his consistency. We've been working very hard in the fall to get his training right and get his consistency working. He showed up very well, very mature athlete today and execute with almost a perfect score. We had a lot of vaulters execute well. We won both the men's and women's unseeded sections, while winning the men's seeded section and had a great showing. Jason Olivera Jr. had a PR, a lifetime best of 5.25 meters. He's been well on his way for many years now, so we are excited to have him jump amongst the ranks of our great guys' squad. Jackson Tuomey had a solid day, too. We are excited to have Grant Gogel with us from Purdue and we are knocking off some rust from Christmas break. It was solid all the way around for the vault squad. We are looking forward to the entire team to improve and keep getting better week-in and week-out."
Head Coach Mike Esposito also praised the group's momentum as the standout efforts across multiple events, noting the standout performances. "Watching an HPU athlete jump over 25 feet in a long jump, and then watching his teammate pole vault a near world class level was pretty special".
On the track, Kelly Bell placed second in the 400 meters with a time of 49.15. In the 200m, Keshon Sapp ran a 22.16 followed closely by Dominiq Northington with a time of 22.16. Northington also raced in the 60m hurdles and placed sixth to advance to the finals for fourth place overall with a personal best 8.06 time. High Point also finished fourth in the 4x400 meter relay clocking 3:16.75.
In the distance events Avery Crowell and Gaving Stevens placed second in the 3000m with a time of 8:30.59 and 8:30.61 respectively. AJ Miller also competed in the 1000m with a time of 2:26.48 for third place.
In the field events, Alex Constantinou won the high jump with a clear mark of 2.06m. Shaun Thomas placed third with a 2.01m height. Caleb Barley added another stellar mark for the Panthers with a 16.04m throw in the shot put. Wilson also posted a personal best for seventh place in the shot put with a 15.01m throw.
The panthers look to use this momentum for next weekend as they travel back to Virginia Tech for the Hokie Invite. With a good start in the early-season, High Point looks to keep building and improving as the indoor season continues. "We have a special group of young people who truly buy in and expect to do great things", said Esposito.
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