HPU Men’s Track Wraps Up Wake Forest Open

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The High Point University men’s track & field team finished up the Wake Forest Open on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C. Senior Dakota Peachee took sixth in the 1,500-meter on Friday and placed ninth in his career debut in the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday.

“Dakota ran very well last night in the 1,500-meter and 55.27 was pretty good in the first hurdles race of his life,” said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. “Eddie Whitlock had a nice PR in the 800 and Cody Seymour engaged well in the 3K. In the jumps it was good to see Max Coleman and Jordan Carr make the final in the long jump. Obviously last night, Austin Miller did very well in the pole vault. He’s going to be very good.”

Peachee ran a career-best 3:51.86 in the 1,500-meter on Friday. On Saturday in his first 400-meter hurdles race ever, he placed ninth with a time of 55.27 seconds.

Junior multi-athlete Tristian Faure also made his debut in the 400-meter hurdles and placed 10th in 55.28. Freshman Dennis Crawford took 13th in 55.53 and freshman Nick Hula took 23rd in 57.96.

Freshman Eddie Whitlock was HPU’s only entrant in the 800-meter and took 15th with a time of 1:55.34. In the 200-meter dash, sophomore Ben Gjebre took 50th with a time of 22.93. Freshman Cody Seymour made his outdoor debut in the 3000-meter and took fifth overall with a time of 8:50.50.

In field events, freshman Jordan Carr placed 10th in the high jump with a clearance of 1.89 meters (6-2.25) and took seventh in the long jump with a distance of 6.80 meters (22-3.75). Redshirt-sophomore Max Coleman placed sixth in the long jump with a leap of 6.83 meters (22-5) and cleared 1.84 meters (6-0.5) to place fifth in the B-section of the high jump.

Freshman Jim Wilson placed 20th in the discus with a throw of 41.01 meters (134-6) after placing 35th in the shot put on Friday. High Point’s 4×100-meter relay placed 10th in 43.38.

Senior Jacob Smith, running unattached, won the 3,000-meter with a time of 8:40.50.

Also on Friday, freshman Austin Miller cleared 4.70 meters (15-5) to place second in the pole vault. He was just off the HPU record of 4.75 (15-7) from 2008. Junior Evan Emery placed third in the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.53 and Crawford took 12th in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.76.

Next weekend, High Point hosts its only home meet of the season, the VertKlasse Meeting. The majority of the meet is on Saturday with feature events starting at 2 p.m. at Vert Stadium.