TRYON, N.C.- The High Point University women's track and field team closed out the indoor season in championship form, winning its fourth-straight Big South Indoor Track & Field title with 244 points. The Panthers posted dominant performances across the sprints, distance events, jumps, throws, and the combined events.
"I think it was pretty expected, to be quite honest with you," Head Coach Mike Esposito stated, "and I was really pleased that some of our athletes who had been plateauing a little bit really stepped up. Some of our speed and power athletes performed well, and our distance athletes are what they are — by far the best in the conference on the women's side. Then you add in Ashland, along with our vaulters, triple jumpers, and long jumpers. Those marks were really strong, even though they didn't win. They were national-caliber marks. So credit again to Charleston Southern for competing well. I also want to thank all the parents, all of you, and the entire support staff. I want to thank Perry, and I really appreciate the support of our administration. We couldn't do this without them. Now we're going to go run a really special outdoor championship."
In the middle-distance events, Brianna Malone led the way with a Big South title in the 800 meters, running 2:11.50, followed by Evie Wild in second and Mikayla Moxley in fifth. Malone added another gold later in the meet, winning the mile, with Alyssa Hendrix finishing close behind in second.
Hendrix delivered one of the strongest distance showings of the championship, winning both the 3000 meters and 5000 meters. She ran 16:44.04 to take the 5000m title, followed by Danielle Jensen in second and Charli Montalvo in third for a clean sweep. In the 3000m, Hendrix and Jensen once again went 1–2, with Montalvo finishing fourth.
In the sprints, Quiana Williams finished second in the 60 meters, with Kendall Hicks placing third with a personal best 24.39 time and Zamesha Myle placed fifth. Hicks added another podium in the 200 meters, finishing third. Dae'Nitra Hester placed fourth in the 400 meters, also winning her heat.
HPU added more points in the hurdles, where Gianna Paul finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles and Gabrielle Crane placed fifth.
The jumps group delivered several of the meet's biggest highlights. Paul finished second in the long jump, but her prelims performance stole the spotlight as she broke the school record with a jump of 6.24 meters, surpassing Alicia Dawson's 2022 mark. Paul also won the high jump at 1.65 meters, with Ashari Pearson finishing second to secure a 1–2 sweep.
In the multis, Mya Hines claimed the Big South pentathlon title with 3,717 points to break the program record. In the 60m hurdles she clocked a 9.21 time, in the high jump a 1.65m mark, a 10.92m throw in the shot put, 5.67m in the long jump and clocked a 2:28.23 time in the 800m. Jhanelle Thomas joined Hines on the podium with 3,269 points.
The Panthers swept the podium in the pole vault with Lily Houston being crowned the champion after clearing 4.02m. Grady Moyer placed second after also clearing a personal-best 4.02m and Emily Romano finished third with a 3.82m mark.
In the throws, Ashlyn Giles placed sixth in the weight throw on Friday and later won the shot put with a mark of 16.27 meters. Jill Stroup also threw in the weight throw and placed eighth with a new personal best, 16.27m throw.
HPU closed the meet with a strong performance in the 4x400 relay, where the team of Hester, Myle, Williams, and Pearson finished third to secure the final points of the championship.
Following the meet, High Point's Zamesha Myle was named the Big South Newcomer of the Year and Brianna Malone was named the women's Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second straight indoor season.
With a complete team effort and standout performances across every event group, High Point University captured the 2026 Big South Indoor Championship, closing the indoor season at the top of the conference.
#GoHPU #DefendTheTeam
