HPU Women’s Track Sixth in Big South Championship

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The High Point University women’s track & field team finished sixth at the 2013 Big South Indoor Championship at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Friday. The Panthers had two third-place finishers, senior Kelsey Hunt and junior Colleen Hollowood.

Hunt placed third in the 5,000-meter with a school-record time of 17:25.94. She ran most of the race in the top five before Liberty’s Khristina Kanagy pulled away. Hollowood used a great finishing kick to pass runners from Coastal Carolina and Liberty at the wire. She finished in a career-best 2:16.28.

“We had some good performances and we’re showing improvement across the board,” said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. “Kelsey Hunt came through in her final indoor meet and Colleen Hollowood had a great 800. Our freshman pole vaulters did very well yesterday. We’ll keep improving outdoors.”

The Panthers totaled 41 points for the sixth-place finish. Coastal Carolina won the meet with 182 points, followed by Liberty (142), Charleston Southern (74), Gardner-Webb (57) and Campbell (50). High Point bested UNC Asheville (38), Radford (28), VMI (25) and Winthrop (25).

Hunt also ran a career-best 10:09.77 in the 3,000-meter to place fifth on Thursday. She was joined in the 5K by sophomore Lauren Blackwell, who placed fourth in 17:41.13.

Hollowood also ran on HPU’s sixth-place distance medley relay and seventh-place 4×400 relay. Freshman Katie Farina also ran on the DMR and placed seventh in the 800-meter in 2:18.82.

The pole vault trio of Alyssa Palenchar, Jill Marois and Ashton Kirby combined to score eight points for the Panthers. Palenchar cleared 3.33 meters (10-11) to place fifth and Marois cleared the same height, placing sixth. Kirby cleared 3.03 meters (9-11.25) to finish eighth.

Junior Kaitlin Whittington jumped 11.34 meters (37-2.5) in the triple jump to finish in seventh place.

The meet wrapped up the indoor season for High Point. HPU is off for three weeks before its outdoor opener, the Wake Forest Open March 15-16 in Winston-Salem, N.C.