HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University women's track and field team won the Bob Davidson Team Challenge by 39 points, scoring 138.5 total points over two days in the Panthers' first home meet of the season, which concluded on Saturday at Vert Stadium.
HPU bested Akron (99.5 pts), Duke (90 pts), James Madison (77.5 pts), George Mason (62 pts), N. Carolina A&T (58.5 pts), Wake Forest (56 pts), Elon (52 pts), App State (35 pts), Lafayette (25 pts), and North Carolina (25 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."
Ashlyn Giles led the way for the Panthers, winning two events and breaking the facility, program and Big South Conference records in the process with her throws in the shot put (16.50m) and discus (52.85m) on Saturday.
"Oh gosh, what a pleasure it is to have Ashlyn here," Esposito said. She's not only a great thrower, but one of our best leaders already in her first season here. Those are two great marks, and it's early but she has a legitimate chance to make it to Eugene for NCAA Outdoor Nationals. I can't say enough about her as a person. It's just been a joy to have her here."
To jumpstart the meet on Friday, Jill Stroup led HPU in the women's hammer with a personal-best 51.37m throw for seventh place, while
Moriah Evans followed in the javelin with a personal-record dagger of 48.60m to finish third.
The women's pole vault group B opened Saturday's coemption, where
Kaitlin Richards cleared a 3.20m bar for sixth. The pole vault group A was later in the day as Lily Houson and
Emily Romano cleared the 3.95m bar each for fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Grady Moyer cleared the 3.80m bar for a top-8 finish.
Over at women's high jump,
Mya Hines paced the Panthers with a clearance of 1.65m for a top-3 placement as
Ashari Pearson tied for sixth (1.60m). In the women's long jump,
Gianna Paul also secured third place with a jump of 6.14m and
Gabrielle Crane finished in sixth (5.69m).
After running the women's 100m and placing second with a sprint of 11.61,
Zamesha Myle jogged over to the triple jump and secured third (12.16m).
Kaia Putman joined Myle in the 100m, clocking fourth place with a 11.81 time as
Gianna Paul won the 100m hurdles behind a 13.79 sprint. Putman also laced up for the 200m, running a 24.21 for another top-5 finish.
Evie Wild competed in multiple events, placing second in the 1500m (4:34.39), and then winning the 800m (2:11.54). In the women's 400m hurdles,
Jhanelle Thomas clocked a top-5 finish (1:02.73).
Danielle Jensen earned a personal best with a time of 4:41.16 in the 1500m.
Oliva Purdy out-paced everyone in the women's 5000m as she clocked a 18:25.08 race for first place. The HPU 4x100m relay team placed third with a time of 45.22.
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
