• The Panthers finished sixth at the Big South Championships
• Freshman Hocine Bouchark earned All-Big South honors with an eighth-place finish
• HPU finishes season at NCAA Southeast Regional Championships Nov. 10 in Earlysville, Va.
LYNCHBURG, Va. — The High Point University men’s cross country team finished sixth at the Big South Championships Saturday morning (Oct. 28) at the Liberty Cross Country Course in Lynchburg, Va.
The Panthers finished with 159 points to place sixth, behind Campbell (38), Liberty (42), Charleston Southern (86), UNC Asheville (105) and Radford (107). Winthrop was seventh with 211 points, followed by Gardner-Webb (242), Presbyterian (244) and Longwood (277).
Freshman Hocine Bouchark earned All-Big South honors with an eighth-place finish in an 8K time of 25:29.8. Fellow freshman Siro Pina Cardona was 28th in 27:13.1, while junior Patrick Van Der Cruyssen placed 38th in 27:47.8. Freshman Stephen Gray finished 50th in 28:16.1, while sophomore TJ Morales rounded out the scoring five in 28:55.0 for 52nd place.
“I thought Hocine ran well and we had some bits and pieces that were pretty good with Siro and Patrick stepping up a little bit, but it’s a disappointing result overall,” HPU head coach Mike Esposito said. “The conference has gotten better on the men’s side but there is no reason we shouldn’t be right there and that’s on me and we’re going to get this turned around.”
After the meet, Junior Alejandro Juan Torres was named to the Big South All-Academic Team.
The Panthers are next in action at the NCAA Southeast Regional on Nov. 10 in Earlysville, Va.