HPU’s House sets 60m record, wins 200m at Wake Forest Invite

• Sophomore James House broke Evan Emery’s 60m dash school record with a blitzing time of 6.82 seconds
• House also won the 200m dash while matching his indoor PR in the event (22.23)
• HPU’s 4x400m relay team claimed victory with a time of 3:27.04

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – James House turned 20 and then turned it on at JDL, setting a new school record in the 60m dash and winning the 200m dash title to lead the High Point University men’s track & field team at the Wake Forest Invitational Saturday.

The birthday boy blew past the field all day, starting with his outstanding performance in the 60m dash. House’s time of 6.82 seconds surpassed the previous program best – set by Evan Emery in 2014 – by one millisecond (6.83). He finished fourth in the event, trailing only three professional sprinters competing unattached.

But House wasn’t done yet. The sophomore from Cary, N.C., raced out of the gate in the 200m dash and matched his indoor PR of 22.23, an impressive four tenths of a second ahead of the next closest competitor. The time was the fastest amongst the eight heats, and earned him the third event title of his career.

Performing his best in the spotlight is nothing new for House, who blitzed the field at the 2015 Big South Outdoor Championship to win the 100m title as a freshman. House then went on to compete at the NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville and USA Track & Field Junior Championships in Eugene against some of the strongest competition in the nation.

“James had an outstanding start to both his season and his races today,” sprints coach Nate Thiesfeld said. “He knew the school record was attainable this year and it has been a goal of his to break it from the start. Now it will be exciting to see how much lower he can take it.”

In addition to House’s win, the Panthers grabbed victory in the 4x400m relay behind the quintessential quartet of seniors Paul O’Donoghue and Nick Hula and freshmen Patrick Van Der Cruyssen and Larry Perez. The winning team crossed the finish line in 3:27.04.

Hula got his season off to a strong start in the 400m dash, placing third out of 29 finishers in a time of 51.33. Perez also earned a top-10 finish, placing sixth in 51.98.

HPU grabbed a pair of top-5 finishes in the 600m, led by O’Donoghue who placed third in 1:23.08. Van Der Cruyssen also ran well while finishing fifth in 1:25.36. Junior Nick Williams placed 11th (1.28.60).

In throws action, senior Jim Wilson finished sixth in the shot put with a mark of 13.44m (44-11.25). Freshman Britton Mann placed eighth (12.71m, 41-8.50) and also earned a sixth-place showing in the weight throw (13.24m, 43-5.25).

On the jumps circuit, senior Will Narramore placed fourth in the long jump with a mark of 6.69m (21-11.50), while junior Pat Irwin placed sixth in the high jump (1.85m, 6-0.75).

In addition to House, a trio of Panthers competed in the 60m dash preliminaries. House qualified for the final, while freshman Sean Banda just missed with an 11th-place finish in his HPU debut (7.04 seconds). Senior Andrew Kuras was 22nd in 7.22, while freshman Christian Langston was 26th (7.29 seconds).

In the 200m dash, Kuras finished 10th in his specialty event (23.31), while freshman Brad Hanney crossed the finish line in 25.40.

Rounding out the HPU contingent, freshman Spencer Ader placed 23rd in the 3000m run in a time of 10:00.05.

The men’s track & field team is back in action Jan. 22-23 at the Hokie Invitational in Blacksburg, Va.