HPU’s Elliott & Cardona Collect Big South Track & Field Weekly Honors

HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University track and field earns its first weekly honors of the outdoor season this Wednesday, as sophomores Nathalie Elliott and Siro Pina Cardona claim Big South Women’s Field Athlete of the Week and Big South Men’s Track Athlete of the Week respectively.

Big South Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week
Nathalie Elliott | Pole Vault | Sophomore | Spring Grove, Pa.

• Second career Big South Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week honor; first of the season
• Tied an outdoor PR, clearing 4.01m in the VertKlasse pole vault
• Her performance was equal to the top mark in the field, tying for second on attempts
• Took runner-up in the event, finishing ahead of athletes from Duke, Wake Forest and Charlotte
• Performance currently stands seventh in the East Region

Big South Men’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week
Siro Pina Cardona | Middle Distance | Sophomore | Alicante, Spain

• First career Big South Men’s Outdoor Athlete of the Week honor
• Took first in the VertKlasse 800m, running a time of 1:51.19
• Pace was just five hundredths of a second from setting a new PR, while coming just a little more than a second short of a VertKlasse record
• As a sophomore, Cardona is a little more than two seconds away from breaking a Panther program record (1:48.86), which has stood since 1973
• Time currently ranks 11th in the East Region

Nathalie Elliott tied an outdoor personal best this Tuesday, clearing 4.01m in last weekend’s VertKlasse pole vault. Her clearance equalled the top mark in the competition as she tied for second on attempts. Elliott’s 4.01m was good enough to put her seventh in the current East Region standings, as she is one of just 15 Division I athletes to clear four-plus meters in the young 2019 outdoor season.

Racing to a first-place finish in the VertKlasse 800m, sophomore Siro Pina Cardona takes home his first Big South weekly honor, while finishing his race in a time of 1:51.19. Cardona’s pace was not only five-hundredths of a second shy of a new PR, but it was also just over a second short of a meet record, and a little more than two seconds off a Panther program record.

Cardona and Elliott’s top-three finishes were two of eight the Panthers recorded in the VertKlasse Meeting this past weekend, hosting the meet for an 11th straight year at Vert Stadium.

Coming Up Next
The Panthers will stay in-state this week, taking a trip to NC State for Raleigh Relays, Friday March 29th through the 30th. HPU has competed at Raleigh Relays annually for the past ten-plus years, and has set two program records at the meet that still stand today.