MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Senior Manika Gamble advanced to the finals of both the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles to lead the High Point University women’s track & field team on the second day of the Big South Championship on Friday at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C. HPU scored eight points in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
“Manika making it through to the finals was the highlight of the day,” said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. “Shamia Brown just missed qualifying for the final in the 100 and 200 which was a great performance. Unfortunately she’s probably just a week of training from being able to run a qualifying time. We could have done better in the 1,500 and steeplechase so we just expect our girls to claw and fight for every point they can get tomorrow.”
Gamble won both of her preliminary heats on Friday, finishing the 100-meter hurdles in 14.17 and taking the 400-meter hurdles in 1:02.24. She is three-time defending champ in the 400-meter hurdles.
Sophomore Audrey Malloy placed fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:12.29. Senior Kelsey Fraser took sixth with a time of 11:15.72, getting nipped in the final stretch by Shelby Nicosia of Coastal Carolina. Senior Kesley Hinchliffe placed 15th.
Brown was a four-year member of the High Point women’s basketball team before joining the track & field team in March. She placed ninth in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.36 and took 11th in the 200-meter with a time of 25.08. In the 200-meter, she missed qualifying for the final by just 0.05.
In the 400-meter preliminaries, sophomore Shannon Corbett placed 11th in 1:00.91 and freshman Emily Fischer placed 12th in 1:01.07. Freshman Sarah Dorrell placed 13th in the 800-meter with a time of 2:22.12. In the 1,500-meter, sophomore Kayleigh Perry placed 14th and junior Kelsey Paine placed 14th.
Liberty led the meet through nine events with a score of 93.5, holding a slight edge over Coastal Carolina’s 89 points. Gardner-Webb ranked third with 46 points followed by Charleston Southern (28), Winthrop (21), UNC Asheville (20) and Campbell (20). Radford ranked eighth with 12.5 points followed by High Point (12) and VMI (nine).
The third and final day of the meet begins on Saturday at 10 a.m. with High Point’s Lynee Pina competing in the discus. She placed eighth in the javelin on Thursday. The meet finishes off with the 4×400 relay at 4:25 p.m.