Trio of HPU women’s school records fall at VertKlasse

• Senior Jill Marois won the pole vault title and broke her own school record with a mark of 3.96m (12-11.75)
• Sophomore Makenzi Holmes-DiGiovine crushed her own discus HPU record with a mark of 48.12m (157-10)
• Senior Jamie Schnuck broke her hammer record three times in six throws, finishing with a mark of 52.95m (173-8)

HIGH POINT, N.C. – A trio of High Point University student-athletes put together historic performances to fuel the women’s track & field team on the final day of action at the 2016 VertKlasse Meeting.

Records fell in the pole vault, discus and hammer throw in an all-around excellent day before a packed house inside Vert Stadium.

“We look forward to this meet all year long,” head coach Mike Esposito said. “It truly is an honor to look up in the stands, head over to the throws and jumps areas and see more than 3,000 people at our event. I think we put on a good show and I hope teams continue to come back and make this event even better in the future.”

Leading the way for the Panthers, senior Jill Marois won the fifth pole vault title of her collegiate career while setting a new top HPU mark with a vault of 3.96m (12-11.75). The mark eclipsed her previous top vault set last week in Raleigh. She cleared the 3.81m bar on her final attempt, then cleared 3.96 on her second attempt to claim the event title.

Fellow senior Alyssa Palenchar cleared the 3.81m bar on her first attempt to ensure a 1-2 finish for the Panthers in the event.

“Today, Jill displayed the mental toughness needed to be competitive at the top level of collegiate track & field,” assistant coach/pole vault coach Scott Houston said. “She battled a very strong cross/head wind to set a record in extremely difficult conditions. Alyssa also vaulted well while tying her outdoor PR today.”

In addition, senior Jamie Schnuck continued her outstanding upward trajectory in the hammer throw Saturday, breaking her own school record three times during her six throws. After posting marks of 52.95m (173-8) and 53.28m (174-10) on her first two attempts, Schnuck advanced to the final and threw 53.69m (176-1) on her last attempt in the finals to secure a third place finish amongst an excellent field. Former Liberty All-American Jocelyn Williams won the event with a mark of 64.14m (210-5).

“Jamie is no longer a feel good story for us – she is a legitimate collegiate thrower with NCAA preliminary potential,” head coach Mike Esposito said. “She continues to get better each and every week.”

Throws buddy Makenzi Holmes-DiGiovine also broke through in a big way Saturday, crushing her own discus school record by more than 10 feet. After making the final with a mark of 46.91m, the Auburn transfer exploded for a throw of 48.12m (157-10) to finish third and flirt with an NCAA preliminary qualifying mark.

“Makenzi’s day provided a nice mental breakthrough for her,” Esposito said. “She always warms up well, but today she responded well after an initial foul and put it all together. It was great to see her perform well in front of her home crowd tonight.”

In top-2 heat competition during the main 2:30-5:30 portion of the VertKlasse Meeting, sophomore Ashlynn Schiro finished 10th in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:05.12. In addition, HPU’s 4x100m relay team placed 11th (49.89 seconds) while the squad’s 4x400m relay time was 4:07.83.

Junior Amanda Gregory just missed the final in the long jump, placing 10th with a strong mark of 5.49m (18-0.25).

Junior Cozette Collin won the 800m participation event to lead off Saturday, claiming the title over 70 over student-athletes with a time of 2:16.96. Freshman Keaton Case won her heat and placed 13th overall in 2:22.70, while freshman Janelle Rothacker finished 21st in 2:24.12.

Freshman Emmy Geis won the participation section of the 400m hurdles in a time of 1:07.31. Sophomore CeAnna Soper placed fourth (1:07.31) and freshman Jasmyn Gillespie finished sixth in 1:07.71.

In the 100m dash participation section, freshman Arianna Coleman finished 19th in 21.72 seconds while sophomore Mikaela Campbell placed 20th in 12.73 seconds. Gregory was 24th in 12.81 seconds.

Schiro led the Panthers with a 10th-place finish in the 100m hurdles participation section (15.01) and fellow sophomore Haley Cianfarini was 20th in 15.64 seconds. Campbell (15.64, 20th), junior Erika Bridges (15.86, 26th) and Soper (16.05, 28th) rounded out the pack for the Panthers.

HPU thanks all who attended the VertKlasse Meeting this weekend. The Panthers return to action next weekend (Apr. 8-9) at the Bill Carson Invitational hosted by East Carolina University.