COLLEGE STATION, Texas / DURHAM, N.C. — The High Point University men's track and field team had a split weekend, sending most of its athletes to the 44 Farms Invitational at Texas A&M while also a handful competed in the Duke Invitational at Duke University Thursday through Saturday.

44 Farms Invitational
In the Lone Star State, Cole Wilson, Nigel Steenwinkel and David Caivano competed in their first decathlon of the season to jumpstart competition on Thursday. Wilson finished second with 7,635 points, while Steenwinkel recorded a personal best 6,951 points and Caivano followed with his personal best 6,442 points.

On day one, Wilson placed second in the shot put (14.06m) for a new personal best as Steenwinkel recorded a new career best toss (11.98), while Steenwinkel took first place in the 400m (48.74) to highlight Thursday.  

Four events down, the trio finished Friday with five more events. Wilson began the final dec day with a personal best 14.61 for second place in the 100m hurdles as Caivano hurdled to a new personal record (15.84). Wilson matched his season best in the discus (42.67m) for third, and then Steenwinkel cleared 4.70m for a new personal best in the pole vault as did Caivano with a 4.50 jump. Wilson soared to a 4.80m clearance for second to highlight the Friday decathlon events.

"We are excited to come down to College Station and Texas A&M," HPU Pole Vault Coach Scott Houston said. "We had a great meet at VertKlasse last week and had a lot of great performances there. So we came out here to follow those up, and we had a lot of athletes do really well, but ultimately, there's some things that we can build on and work towards as we move closer to the championship season for Big South and NCAA First Rounds. Not everyone competed at the highest level, but it was a great experience with a lot of pressure and a different environment."

In the men's discus, Caleb Barley finished top 10 with a throw of 50.13, while Tim Brown (21.54) and Dominiq Northington (22.03) raced in the 200m. 

Then, to finish off Friday the Panthers had four men's pole vaulters compete.

Ricardo Montes de Oca stole the show, breaking four records with a clearance of 5.70m to win Men's Pole Vault Invite event. The sophomore shattered the Big South record, Venezuelan record, program record, and meet record with his jump of nearly 19 feet. Jason Olivera Jr., followed his teammate for second place as his clearance of 5.44m was a new personal record. Jackson Tuomey and Grant Gogel each cleared the 5.08m bar to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.

On Saturday, Barley placed second in the shot put behind a new personal best throw of 18.41m. Drew Noblet threw the javelin 66.09m for fifth place as Northington competed in the 110m hurdles, placing in the top 15 with a time of 14.32. Mobu Nwakor leaped to a season-best 15.13 in the triple jump for seventh place, and then Brown ran in the 400m, finishing seventh with a time of 46.99

"The multis were 3-for-4 on PRs, but Cole gives himself an opportunity to be in the mix for NCAAs early already this year, so we are still coming to continue to compete at conference and make sure it is a lock," Houston said. "Ricardo set a new meet record, jumping to a new school record of 5.70m. Caleb threw a bomb of 18-plus meters in the shot put, and Drew followed up a very solid javelin throw with another 64-meter throw this season. We had really solid performances in the triple jump, hurdles, and on the track, and I think everybody can really build from a trip like this, and we are looking forward to the next meet coming up."

To end Saturday, Reid Holloway won the pole vault with a jump of 5.12m as the Panthers swept both sections of the men's pole vault. Maxwell Robinson also competed and placed fifth over the 5.02m bar.

Duke Invitational
In Durham on Friday, Prince Brockington threw the hammer 52.31m, while Bradley Weiner competed in the hammer (49.99) and discus (44.28m). Luke Simpson ran in the 1500m and clocked a 3:55.40 race. On Saturday, Demetrio Lukaitis finished just outside the top 10 in the javelin with a throw of 55.03m.

"Some good, some not so good," Director of Track & Field Mike Esposito said. "Not what we hoped for at this time of the season. Our goal is to establish consistency, which is the biggest predictor for breakthroughs. We have a lot of work to do in these next several weeks of training will be crucial as we approach conference and beyond. The good news is we have a great group of talented young people along with a great staff."

UP NEXT: High Point stays in state and competes at the Wake Forest Invitational (Apr. 16-17) and the Aggie Invitational (Apr. 17-18).