HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University men's track and field team opened the outdoor season with authority during the Bob Davidson Team Challenge, scoring 157.5 points and winning the meet with a dominant showing and finishing first out of 13 teams.
HPU edged out Akron (147.5 pts), George Mason (114 pts), Duke (80 pts), N. Carolina AT&T (74 pts), Wake Forest (39 pts), Lafayette (27 pts), Lenoir-Rhyne (20 pts), North Carolina (17 pts), App State (16 pts), UNC Greensboro (4 pts) and Gardner-Webb (3 pts).
"The idea of a competition is to win the team competition," HPU Director of Track & Field Mike Esposito said. "That's what our sport should be, and until we embrace it as a sport, we are going to struggle to stay relevant and that's why I'm very happy. I think it's very important to put on meets like this and the idea is to win the meet. Some of the teams brought their A-game and some teams did not. Everybody has the option and the idea is to win the meet, and we won both the men's and women's trophies. I think winning is contagious and I'm pleased we had quite a few first round qualifiers out of this meet, in an early season meet. The weather helped, but you know we put on a good meet and the timing company was excellent. The officials were excellent, too, and the sports information staff and announcer were excellent. I think we put on the best meets in the country."
The Panthers racked up major wins, personal bests, and depth across every event group, putting them at the top of the charts on their home track.
In the field events, Jason Olivera Jr. took home the pole vault crown, clearing 5.36m to finish first in the top section, alongside teammate Ricardo Montes de Oca (5.36m), in the pole vault A section.
Jake Morgan added a second-place finish in the men's pole vault B section with a clearance of 4.46m. In the horizontal jumps, Mobu Nwakor placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 14.76 meters, while David Montague finished seventh in the long jump followed by David Caivano in eighth and Kelan McCullough in ninth.
The Panthers also excelled in the throws. Caleb Barley recorded a massive personal best in the shot put, finishing second with a throw of 17.97 meters. He added a 12th-place finish in the discus and 10th in the hammer throw. Bradley Weiner placed fifth in the hammer with a mark of 55.16m, while in the javelin Henry Zief finished fourth at 62.54m and Drew Noblet followed in fifth with 60.16m. Demetrio Lukaitis rounded out the group with a 10th-place finish.
On the track, Luke Simpson delivered one of the meet's standout moments, winning the steeplechase in his first collegiate race in the event. The Panthers added another strong relay performance with a third-place finish in the 4x100 relay (40.52) and later secured second in the 4x400 relay to close out the meet.
In the sprints, Tim Brown finished second in the 400m, while Myles Darroch placed sixth. Nigel Steenwinkel ran a personal best to finish fifth in the 110-meter hurdles, and Ethan Stallone added a seventh-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles.
The middle-distance group contributed valuable points as well. Gavin Stevens finished third in the 1500m followed by AJ Miller in eighth and Avery Crowell in 11th out of 29 runners. Crowell earning a personal best in the process. Miller returned later to finish fourth in the 800 meters, with Clark LaLomia placing ninth.
In the distance events, Ari Snyder led the Panthers with a third-place finish in the 5000 meters followed by Simon Triezenberg in fifth, Blake Nicholson in sixth, and Max Bonilla in seventh to stack valuable team points.
High Point ended the first day on Friday night with a special moment as the team honored former student-athlete Gabriel Stainback, who tragically passed away in September 2025, with his favorite event named in his honor: The Gabriel Stainback Memorial Men's High Jump. Stainback's family attended and watched the high jump on the track alongside the HPU team and coaches as a video was played in his memory.
In the Gabriel Stainback Memorial Men's High Jump, John Connors cleared 2.00m to finish fourth, while Shaun Thomas placed seventh for the Panthers.
With event wins, podium finishes, and depth across every discipline, High Point delivered a complete team performance to claim the team title at the Bob Davidson Challenge and set the tone for the outdoor season ahead.
Up Next: The Panther head to the Raleigh Relays, hosted by NC State, on March 26-28 before hosting the VertKlasse Meeting April 2-3 at Vert Stadium.
#GoHPU x #DefendTheTeam
