TRYON, N.C. – For the fourth season in a row, the High Point University men's track and field team was crowned the Big South Indoor Champions after totaling 188 points. HPU won eight events during the meet.
 
"In the men's competition, I think it was important that we had to work for this one," Head Coach Mike Esposito stated. "I think that's going to be an eye-opener for our kids, and I think that's a good thing. You have to credit Charleston Southern, but like in any sport, this exposed some weaknesses we have right now that we will certainly address moving forward. It's pretty exciting to have three people hopefully make the national championship. Clearly, that's the most we've ever had, and it's almost — probably — one of the second-hardest meets to qualify for in the world besides the Olympics. That's a credit to our staff, and what's neat about it is there will be three different coaches who directly coached those athletes. Cole worked with Hillary, also in collaboration with Scott, and I think it's neat that this will be Shimoya's first national qualifier. Obviously, Hillary has been there before. That really stands out on the men's side, but a win is a win. That's what we come here for, and we've got to get healthy and keep everybody available. I think we're going to have a really special spring."
 
A highlight of the meet across both days was watching Cole Wilson, Nigel Steenwinkel, Kellan McCullough and David Caivano compete in the heptathlon. Wilson placed first breaking the Big South record, championship meet record, and program record with 5,815 points. Steenwinkel placed second with 5,038 points, McCullough placed third with 4,915 points and Caivano registered 4,672 points to go first through fourth as a team.
 
On Friday, Ricardo Montes de Oca kicked the meet off with a first-place title in the pole vault after clearing 5.37m. He was joined by Jackson Tuomey (5.22m) and Jason Olivera, Jr. (5.07m) on the podium while Steenwinkel and Caivano placed fourth and fifth.
 
In the long jump Justin Sluijter jumped an impressive 7.89m setting a new Big South record, championship meet record and an HPU program record.
 
Rounding out the running event finals on Friday was the DMR team consisting of Luke Simpson, Myles Darroch, AJ Miller and Clark Lalomia. Winning the event, the team clocked a 10:02.13 time.
 
Opening the day on Saturday, Alex Constantinou was crowned the high jump champion for the second straight indoor season after clearing 2.06m. Shaun Thomas placed second with a 2.06m clear and John Connors placed fourth with a 1.96m clear.
 
On the track in the finals, Dominiq Northington was crowned the 60m hurdles champion with an 8.02 time after qualifying with a program record 8.00 time. Northington also qualified in the 60m and placed sixth with a 6.90 time.
 
Miller raced in the 800m and was crowned the champion after clocking 1:51.58.
 
In the next event on the track, Tim Brown placed fourth in the 200m with a 21.68 time.
 
In the 3000m, Avery Crowell clocked an 8:21.74 time for fourth place followed by Gavin Stevens with an 8:26.69.
 
Caleb Barley placed third in the weight throw with a 17.67m throw. He later placed second in the shot put with a 17.09m throw.
 
In the triple jump, Mobu Nwakor was crowned the champion jumping 15.01m in the sand.
 
In the final event of the meet, the 4x400m relay team made the podium with a second place finish after running a 3:14.83 time. The team consisted of Darroch, Brown, Northington, and Miller.
 
Following the meet, Steenwinkel was named the Big South Newcomer of the Year, and the coaching staff was named the Big South Men's Coaching Staff of the Year.