Emery Paces HPU Men’s Track At Wake Forest On Saturday

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Senior Evan Emery paced the High Point University men’s track & field team at the Wake Forest Open on Saturday, placing sixth in the 200-meter as the Panthers’ top finisher in Winston-Salem, N.C. He ran a time of 21.65.

Emery placed fourth in the top heat of the 200-meter. Also on the track, sophomore Nick Hula placed 19th and freshman PJ Lidonde placed 20th in the 400-meter hurdles. Hula finished in 57.65 and Lidonde ran a time of 57.77. In the 800-meter, freshman Luke Goodrich was HPU’s top finisher in 1:58.12 for a 33rd-place finish among 69 finishers. The Panthers’ 4×400 relay team took 16th.

Sophomore Jim Wilson had another strong showing on Saturday. He placed 10th in the discus with a career-best throw of 45.00 meters (147-8). His throw was just off the High Point University record of 148-6 set in 1992. On Friday, Wilson set a new HPU record of 14.45 meters (47-5) in the shot put, breaking Blaine Jiron’s previous school record of 14.12 meters (46-4) from 1990.

In the long jump, freshman Eric Purnell placed 14th with a distance of 6.47 meters (21-2.75) and redshirt-junior Max Coleman placed 16th with a distance of 6.43 meters (21-1.25).

On Friday, sophomore Austin Miller set a new HPU outdoor record of 4.85 meters (15-11) in the pole vault. That tied his career best from the indoor season. Redshirt-senior Jacob Smith finished third in the highly-competitive 1500-meter in 3:48.97 and Emery placed seventh in the final of the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.68.

Junior Christian Spaulding, who set the school record in the javelin last weekend with a mark of 68.19 meters (223-9), finished sixth in the event on Friday with a throw of 64.95 meters (213-1).

Next weekend, High Point competes in two locations with athletes going to the Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill, S.C., and the Raleigh Relays at NC State.