ROCK HILL, S.C.– The High Point University men’s cross-country team finished runner-up to Charleston Southern at the Big South Cross-Country Championship on Friday (March 5th) as the Panthers placed second with a team score of 29. The second-place finish marks HPU’s best result since winning the Big South Championship race in 2014. Spencer Smucker was the top finisher for the Panthers finishing second overall in the race.
“We are pretty disappointed, Hocine was a favorite and I respect what he did today he’s been nicked up and that would have made a huge difference obviously But by and large I think ran okay”, Coach Mike Esposito said. “Charleston Southern handed it to us today. It was not a horrible performance but we needed something more today. Spencer is a fighter and he is getting better. What we need from Spencer now is for him to build off of this I think he could have a tremendous track season.”
High Point had three runners earn All-Conference honors as three Panthers finished in the top twelve with Smucker finishing second with a time of 24:08.0. Hocine Bouchrak finished tenth with a time of 24:43.9. Hunter Steinau was the third Panther finisher as we crossed the finish line in 24:47.6.
Siro Pina Cardona, Stephen Gray, Ian Miller, and Philip Sherwin rounded out the top twenty as the Panthers had seven runners finish in the top 17.