• Junior Natalia Ocasio finished second in the 3000m run in a collegiate best time of 10:02.86
• Sophomore Makenzi Holmes-DiGiovine broke an HPU discus record that had stood since 2003 with a mark of 40.30m (132-3)
• Senior Christine RIckert finished second in the javelin with a mark of 45.72 (150-0) in her 2016 debut
HIGH POINT, N.C. – Junior Natalia Ocasio put together a new collegiate best and sophomore Makenzi Holmes-DiGiovine broke a school record that had stood for 13 years to lead the High Point University women’s track & field team on day two at the Wake Forest Invitational Saturday.
Ocasio placed second in the 3000m run with a PR of 10:02.86 to lead the Panthers on the track. The time usurped her previous career best by close to five seconds during an excellent run for the Mount Laurel, N.J. native.
Holmes-DiGiovine began her discus season with a force, breaking the Panther record set by Nicole Garner in 2003 (130-1, 39.64). Holmes-DiGiovine’s mark of 40.30m (132-3) earned her a 12th-place finish in a strong field Saturday. She will continue to progress this season, as her previous PR while at Auburn was 47.02m (154-3).
Senior Christine Rickert made her 2016 javelin debut Saturday in Winston and finished second with a mark of 45.72m (150-0). Sophomore Mackenzie Vermette also made her outdoor debut and finished 16th (34.64m, 113-8).
“Natalia ran extremely well and is ready to run a great steeple in Raleigh next week,” head coach Mike Esposito said. “It was a good opener for Chrissy in the javelin and will set her up for bigger marks as we move forward. Makenzi did well in warm ups in the disc and will continue to get better this season. We decided with the rainy weather not to enter our vaulters but they will be ready to go next week.”
On the jumps circuit, junior Amanda Gregory placed fourth in the long jump with a mark of 5.08m (16-8). In addition, junior Erika Bridges placed 14th with a mark of 4.82m (15-9.75). Junior Alyn Carr was 25th (4.47m, 14-8) and freshman Arianna Coleman finished 27th (4.41m, 14-5.75).
Also on the track, freshman Emmy Geis earned a top-10 finish in the 400m hurdles (7th, 1:07.10) and sophomore CeAnna Soper was right behind in eighth (1:07.26). Freshman Jasmyn Gillespie was 19th in 1:09.18.
Coleman also raced in the 200m dash and finished 32nd in a time of 27.16 seconds.
Freshman Janelle Rothacker placed 48th out of 88 competitors in the 800m run with a time of 2:29.10.
Wrapping up the weekend, High Point’s 4x400m relay team placed 10th in a time of 4:17.32.
The Panthers split up for a pair of meets next weekend. A small group of athletes will head to the Raleigh Relays, while the remainder of the Panthers will compete in the Winthrop Combined Events in Rock Hill, S.C.