High Point Men’s Track Fourth After First Day of Big South Championship

LYNCHBURG, Va. — The High Point University men’s track & field team stood in fourth place after the first day of the Big South Championship in Lynchburg, Va. Sophomore Christian Spaulding placed second in the javelin to score eight points for HPU.

Spaulding threw the javelin 61.99 meters (203-4) on his fifth attempt to place second behind Coastal Carolina’s Jordan Entwistle (62.89 meters, 206-4). The Chanticleers scored 20 points in the event.

The men’s 10,000-meter capped off the night’s events and the Panthers had two scorers. Freshman Paddy Grandinali placed fifth with a time of 31:38.57 and freshman Cody Seymour took sixth in 31:42.50. Four Liberty runners pulled away in the closing laps to finish 1-4. HPU sophomore Reece Ayers took 11th.

Junior Tristan Faure put himself in great position after the first day of the decathlon. He totaled 3,654 points through five events and sits just seven behind VMI senior Antonio Wood, who totaled 3,661. Faure placed third in the decathlon at last year’s Big South Championship with an HPU-record 6,633 points.

Faure ran a time of 11.26 in the 100-meter dash to start off the decathlon and followed with a long jump of 6.86 meters (22-6). Faure threw the shot put 11.13 meters (36-6.25) and cleared a career-best 1.93 meters (6-4) in the high jump. Faure finished the day with a time of 50.87 in the 400-meter.

Also on Thursday, four Panthers competed in the long jump, led by redshirt-sophomore Max Coleman. Coleman laced 11th with a distance of 6.79 meters (22-3.5). Redshirt-senior Corey Law placed 13th with a distance of 6.64 meters (21-9.5).

Through four events, Liberty led the meet with 50 points followed by Coastal Carolina at 26 and Charleston Southern at 23. High Point ranked fourth with 15 points followed by Gardner-Webb (11), UNC Asheville (8) and Campbell (8).

The action continues on Friday at 9 a.m. when Faure competes in the 110-meter hurdles of the decathlon. The first individual event is the men’s shot put at 10 a.m.