CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In Ricardo Montes de Oca's first meet of his indoor season, he reached new heights and landed a Big South Field Athlete of the Week award on Wednesday afternoon. The High Point University men's track and field student-athlete set the Big South and program record in the pole vault at the Virginia Tech Invitational.
 
Monte de Oca reset the Big South and program records with a vault of 5.67m on his first attempt at that bar. He 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. Montes De Oca also produced near-miss attempts at 5.75m, showing a consistency in training.   

High Point will travel back to Blacksburg, Va. to compete in the Hokie Invite on January 23-24. Stay tuned for schedule updates.