HPU’s Heinst Receives Second Straight Big South Runner of the Year Honor

HIGH POINT, N.C. – A 12-time Big South Conference champion, High Point University track and field’s Famke Heinst earns her second straight Cross Country/Track & Field Runner of the Year honor, becoming the first athlete in conference history to receive the accolade more than once in a single career.

Big South Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field Runner of the Year
Famke Heinst | Sophomore | Gelderland, Netherlands

• Second straight Big South Runner of the Year accolade; swept both Big South Indoor & Outdoor Outstanding Track Performer of the Year honors in 2019
• Finished first in the Big South Women’s Cross Country Championship (17:53.6) for a second straight year
• Claimed Big South Indoor Championship event titles in both the mile (5:05.68) and 3000m (10:03.03)
• Took home three Big South Outdoor Championship titles in the 3000m Steeplechase (10:35.83), 1500m (4:31.03) and 5000m (17:05.13)
• Finished 13th in NCAA East Preliminaries 3000m steeple, running a program and conference record time of 10:09.40
• Between both prelims and finals, she is a perfect 14-0 in Big South races over her two years of competition, claiming 12 titles in all

Opening the 2018-19 championship season with her second straight Big South Cross Country individual title, Heinst completed her 5K in a time of 17:53.6 to help the Panthers to their second consecutive Big South team championship in October. The sophomore went on to become the second HPU runner in history to claim USTFCCCA All-Southeast Region honors after turning in a time of 20:19.5 at NCAA Southeast Region Championships, and recorded a 10th-place finish at U20 European Cross Country Championships while representing her home country of the Netherlands.

Heinst followed up her performance in the cross country season with a pair of titles in Big South Indoor Championships, completing the mile in 5:05.68 and the 3000m in 10:03.03. Her event wins were both back-to-back championship titles for the Panther runner, earning Big South Indoor Outstanding Track Performer accolades in the process.

The Panther runner completed her conference season with a trio of titles at Big South Outdoor Championships, running a 10:35.83 in the 3000m steeplechase, a 4:31.03 in the 1500m and a 17:05.13 in the 5000m. Heinst’s regular season-best of 10:35.77 in the steeple was good enough to earn NCAA East Preliminary qualifications, where her pace of 10:09.40 placed her a single spot shy of making NCAA National Championships. The sophomore’s pace set both a program and conference record, both of which were already owned by Heinst. Between her races in the cross country, indoor and outdoor seasons, Heinst is a perfect 14-0 in her Big South Championship career and owns a total of 12 conference titles since 2017-18.