HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s track and field team completed their first marquee home weekend of outdoor competition at the Bill Webb Combined/Bob Davidson Memorial Invitational.
“When that 4×400 rolled around there was energy in the stadium, there was energy in there and it was really cool to be a part of that. I thought was exciting especially being able to compete at home, Head Coach Mike Esposito said. The level of regional marks and things like that were pretty high but I really liked the energy in the stadium from the other teams and from our kids in particular. We have some key kids who have to turn things around here in the next six weeks because we are running out of time for us to be able to ready for conference.”
It was an exceptional performance for the HPU men’s team as they had seven individual champions. Austen Cave, Gabriel Stainback, Chris Van Niekerk, Freddie Allen III, Siro Pina Cardona, and Patrick Kelly finished first in their events individually.
Cave finished first in the 5000-meter run with a lifetime best time of 14:38.86. Cave made his move late in the race and took the lead with three laps remaining. Runners from William and Mary and Campbell were unable to catch him as his final meter split of 1:04.397 propelled him to a convincing victory. Cave’s time is currently the twenty-second ranked 5000-meter run in the country.
Stainback won the decathlon with a score of 6904, which was his personal best. He set personal bests in the shot put with a throw of 13.88m, in the pole vault with a 4.72m bar clearance, and the 1500m with a time of 5:17.90.
Evan Mills finished in third place in his first-ever collegiate decathlon with a score of 5871.
Van Niekerk won multiple events in both the shot put and the discus. Van Niekerk finished first in the shot put with a throw of 17.54m.
His discus mark of 54.31m also secured him a first-place finish.
Allen won the long jump with a personal best of 7.39m. Allen’s jump is currently the ninth longest jump in the country. Daniel Bogle finished right behind Allen in second place with a jump of 7.27m.
Siro Pina Cardona was the champion of the 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.09. Kelly also set a personal best in his winning time of 9:51.06 in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Terris Burton finished second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.34, which was his collegiate best.
Paul Gore finished third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.88, which was his personal best.
Larry Coaxum finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 13.79m.
Carter Clasper and Adam Craig finished third and fourth in the men’s pole vault with respective bar clearances of 4.61m and 4.46m. The 4.46m is a collegiate outdoor best for Craig early in his freshman career. In the javelin, Rob Greer finished in third place with a mark of 58.47m.
In the final track event of the afternoon, the HPU A 4×400 team, which consisted of Burton, Bogle, Cardona, and Gore, finished in fourth with a time of 3:18.44.
UP NEXT: High Point will be splitting up their team and sending multiple individuals to three different meets between March 25th and March 27th. The Panthers will have athletes in action at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, TX, the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, NC, and the Dr. Jack Toms Alumni Invitational in Lynchburg, VA.