The High Point University women’s track and field team finished the first day of the Big South Indoor Championships in fourth place on Thursday at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Panthers finished the first day with 16 points.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The High Point University women’s track and field team finished the first day of the Big South Indoor Championships in fourth place on Thursday at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Panthers finished the first day with 16 points.
“We’re going to have to scrape and claw for every point and we started to do that today,” said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. “We needed results like having three women score in the pole vault, two runners advance in the 800 and a big career best from Kelsey Hunt in the 3K. It was a solid performance today and we’re going to need more good performances tomorrow to finish as highly as possible.”
Senior Kelsey Hunt was HPU’s top scorer, picking up five points for the Panthers with a fourth-place showing in the 3,000-meter run. Hunt finished with a career-best time of 10:09.77 in the race. Sophomore Lauren Blackwell finished 10th in the 3,000 with a time of 10:28.49 and freshman Julia Zautcke finished in 12th with a career-best time of 10:37.82.
Three different High Point runners scored points in the pole vault, led by freshman Alyssa Palenchar who finished in fifth with a height off 3.33 meters (10-11). Fellow freshman Jill Marois matched Palenchar’s height of 3.33 meters, but finished one spot back in sixth on total jumps. Freshman Ashton Kirby finished in eighth with a career-best height of 3.03 meters (9-11.25).
The Panthers had two runners qualify for the finals in the 800-meters as junior Colleen Hollowood used a strong final lap to win her heat with a career-best time of 2:18.61 and freshman Katie Farina‘s career-best time of 2:19.58 was seventh-best in the preliminaries.
Sophomore Emily Fischer turned in career-best times in the preliminaries of the 400-meter dash. Fischer finished third in her heat and 10th overall with a time of 58.87.
Freshman Sara Katherine Kirkpatrick finished 11th in the pentathlon with a career-high total of 2,607 points. Kirkpatrick closed on a high note with an impressive second-place finish in the 800-meter run, turning in a time of 2:27.07.
The High Point Distance Medley team scored three points with a sixth-place finish in the event. The medley team of Farina, Hollowood, Fischer and junior Kayleigh Perry finished with a time of 12:31.22 in the event.
High Point returns to the JDL Fast Track on Friday for the second and final day of the Big South Indoor Championships on Friday, Feb. 22. The day is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., with the women’s weight throw.