HPU Men’s Track: Crawford Ties 60-Meter Hurdle Record at Tar Heel Open

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s track & field team continued its strong indoor season on Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C. at the Tar Heel Open. Sophomore Dennis Crawford matched the school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.24 while sophomore Eddie Whitlock had HPU’s best finish coming in second in the 800-meter race.

The Panthers were limited but successful in the track events on Saturday with athletes participating in the 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter dash, and 800-meter race.

Crawford, who just missed the school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a mark of 8.25 last weekend at the Virginia Tech Invite, matched the record on Saturday running 8.24 in the preliminaries to place fifth. Crawford finished in seventh in the finals with a time of 8.55.

“Dennis ran very well today after a nice run at Virginia Tech last weekend,” said associate head coach Eric Dudley. “His preliminary race he was able to tie the school record and ran very well and I think that it’s a sign of more great things to come from him.”

Meanwhile, in the 800-meter, Whitlock had the Panthers’ best finish of the day as he was runner up in the 800-meter with a time of 1:53.85. Whitlock made his charge in the second lap, passing eight runners and finishing with the fastest second lap time of the field in 57.75.

“Eddie was fortunate to be in such a great heat,” said Dudley. “He likes to come from behind and kept it within striking distance and was able to make a strong push towards the end of the race.”

In the field events, sophomore Austin Miller, who broke the HPU pole vault record last weekend with a vault of 4.85 meters (15-11), placed third in the event Saturday with a mark of 4.45 meters (14-7.25). Freshman Jose San Miguel came in fourth behind Miller with a vault of 4.30 meters (14-1.25).

In the jumps, sophomore Adam DeVito had a distance of 6.51 meters (21-4.25) in the long jump to finish seventh while freshman Drew Francoeur took eighth in the triple jump with a mark of 13.04 meters (42-9.50).

Elsewhere in the field events, junior Christian Spaulding had a toss of 14.58 in the weight throw to finish seventh.

High Point will be back in action next weekend when the team takes part in the JDL Hilton Garden Invitational next Friday and Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.