• Austin Miller won his fourth Big South pole vault title with a meet record mark (5.25m, 17-2.75)
• Senior Christian Spaulding finished second in the javelin while breaking his own school record (68.88m, 226-0)
• Senior Will Narramore broke an HPU triple jump mark that had stood since 1992 with a jump of 15.31m (50-3.25)
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Senior Austin Miller made a major statement and claimed his fourth career league pole vault title to lead the High Point University men’s track & field team on final day action at the Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championship Thursday.
Miller’s victory registered 10 points for the Panthers and helped lead the Purple & White to a total of 99 points on the week. Liberty won the meet (257), followed by Coastal Carolina (156) and Campbell (138). High Point was fourth (99), followed by Winthrop (61).
Miller’s performance was the highlight Thursday, as the Herndon, Va., product posted a massive vault of 5.25m (17-2.75) to set a new meet record and once again break his own HPU program best mark. The previous meet record of 5.20m had been set on two occasions by Liberty in 1996 and 2011.
Miller cleared 4.80m (15-9) and 4.95m (16-2.75) on his first attempt, then got by the 5.05m bar (16-6.75) on his third try to stay in the competition with Liberty’s Carson Waters. Miller then topped 5.15m (16-10.75) on his first attempt, while Waters cleared it on his second try.
Waters missed 5.25m on all three attempts, clearing the way for Miller to win the title with a successful clearance on his first attempt. For his efforts, Miller was named Big South Outstanding Field Performer, marking the first time an HPU outdoor athlete has earned the accolade.
In addition to Miller, junior Isaiah Henderson cleared 4.50m (14-9) on his first effort to finish fifth, while sophomore Todd Uckermark was eighth with a 4.50m clearance on his third attempt. Behind those three efforts, HPU earned a total of 15 points in the event.
HPU also picked up a solid 12 points in the javelin behind good performances from senior Christian Spaulding and junior Drew Francoeur. Spaulding broke his own school record with a vault of 68.88m (226-0) to earn a second-place finish. The record-breaking throw came on his third attempt of the day. Francoeur also put together a gutsy performance, battling through a difficult arm injury to muscle out a throw of 62.44m (204-10) and a fifth-place showing. Freshman Liam Onbashian set a new collegiate best while finishing ninth (52.98m, 173-10).
Senior Will Narramore was part of one of the best triple jump competitions in Big South history while upping his PR in the process. Narramore jumped 15.31m (50-3.25) on his second attempt of the day to earn a fifth-place finish amongst a group in which five student-athletes topped 50 feet. The mark also topped a school record which had been held since 1992 by Tracy Henry (49-11.25).
Coupled with his second-place long jump showing and excellent contributions on HPU’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams, Narramore finished his final Big South meet with 22 total points.
On the track, HPU’s 4x100m relay team led off the day with a strong time of 40.99 seconds and a third-place finish. The group of speedy Panthers included sophomore James House, Narramore, senior Andrew Kuras and freshman Sean Banda.
In distance action, freshman Alejandro Juan Torres earned his fourth all-conference honor of his rookie campaign with a third-place finish in the 1500m run (3:54.18). Torres also was all-conference during the cross country season and grabbed a pair of honors in the DMR and mile run during the indoor campaign.
In addition to Torres, junior Vinny Todaro finished eighth in the 1500m to pick up a point for the Purple & White.
Senior Paul O’Donoghue recorded the 12th all-conference honor of his HPU career during a third-place showing in the 800-meters (1:53.23), while Torres finished sixth to grab another three points (1:54.29). O’Donoghue also earned his third Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor during the post-meet awards ceremony.
On the sprints circuit, sophomore James House battled through a hamstring injury to finish fourth in the 200m dash and seventh in the 100-meter race. Freshman Sean Banda ran well in the 100m, placing sixth in a PR of 10.65 seconds to pick up three points for HPU.
In hurdles action, senior Nick Hula placed sixth in the 400-meter event in a time of 56.21 seconds. It marked Hula’s best ever Big South finish in the event by place.
Hula also was part of HPU’s 4x400m relay team that placed fifth in a season-best time of 3:17.57. That group also included Narramore, O’Donoghue and Miller.
“Austin’s jump was big and if he does that in two weeks, he has an excellent chance of making it all the way to Eugene,” head coach Mike Esposito. “Overall, we had some kids that were pretty banged up that still scored and that speaks to the tenacity of our team. Our javelin throwers competed very well. Drew showed a lot of toughness with his performance. Alejandro proved he’s going to be a force moving forward and I am proud of Paul for putting the finishing touches on a great career.”
UP NEXT
With the regular season now complete, a group of HPU student-athletes will now focus its attention on NCAA preliminary competition May 26-28 in Jacksonville, Fla. Miller (14th, pole vault), Spaulding (19th, javelin) and Narramore (27th, long jump) are well within the qualifying top-48 and should be locks for NCAAs.
Narramore in the triple jump (43rd), Francoeur in the javelin (52nd) and House in the 100m (56th) are all on the bubble and will wait to see if they also make it into the field when declarations are announced Monday. Narramore will compete in the North Carolina A&T meet Sunday in Greensboro to try and move his triple jump mark up the rankings.