HPU Men’s and Women’s Track Recap Live in Lou Classic

Women’s Report follows

LOUISVILLE, KY – The High Point University men’s cross-country team finished 17th as a team with a score of 475 out of 32 teams at the 20th annual Live in Lou Classic hosted by Louisville on Saturday morning (Oct. 2nd). HPU had the highest team finish amongst Big South schools in Louisville on Saturday besting Radford and UNC-Asheville. Hocine Bouchrak was the first Panther finisher for the third straight race as he finished 14th with a personal best time of 23:44.2 amongst a strong field in Louisville. Saturday was a chance for HPU to compete in the state of Kentucky in the same season that the University of Kentucky hosts the Regional.

Mike Esposito: We got buried early, it was a solid day, but that is not where we want to finish. Hocine had probably one of the better High Point performances ever for a male with the quality of the kids ahead of him. Hocine was there with the group through 6K and he actually closed well, but these are pretty elite kids. I think was a great preview for when we come back here for NCAA Regionals.

Panther Particulars

Bouchrak continues to run well for HPU this season, Saturday marked the third straight race he was the first Panther to cross the finish line. Bouchrak came in at 25 at the 2.1K split running 5:58.1. Bouchrak was able to improve five spots by the 3.9K, he continued to move up as he finished strong improving six spots to finish 14th with a time of 23:44.2 which is a personal best. It was Bouchrak’s first sub-24-minute 8k in his career.

Hunter Steinau set a new PR by over a minute as he posted a time of 24:59.8 improving 88 spots throughout the race. It was a spirited outing for the sophomore as he improved 52 spots between the 2.1K and the 3.9K, he moved up another 36 spots to finish 109th.

Austen Cave was another Panther who continued to move up throughout the race improving 110 spots from the start to the finish. Cave finished closely behind his teammate Steinau placing 113th with a time of 25:02.3 a new personal best for him.

Ian Miller finished 122nd with a time of 25:06.6 kept the pattern of Panther progression as he moved up quite a bit passing 87 competitors throughout the day.

Spencer Smucker finished 150th with a time of 25:19.6, Stephen Gray was 161st with a time of 25:26.9.

The defending Big South Freshman of the Week Graham Ferguson continues to improve each week setting a new PR by over a minute finishing in Louisville with a time of 25:33.9 for a 177th place finish.

Team Scores
1 Wisconsin 26
2 Grand Valley St. 67
3 Eastern Illinois 174
4 Louisville 196
5 Lipscomb 206
6 App State 261
7 UTEP 319
8 Mississippi College 323
9 Miami (OH) 360
10 ETSU 372
11 St. Francis (IL) 402
12 Loyola (IL) 412
13 New Orleans 444
14 Queens (NC) 447
15 Mid. Tenn. State 453
16 Ohio 455
17 High Point 475
18 South Alabama 479
19 DePaul 500
20 Memphis 505
21 Taylor 515
22 UNC-Greensboro 546
23 Cornerstone 558
24 Bellarmine 568
25 Tennessee Tech 598
26 Tennessee-Martin 665
27 UNC-Asheville 716
28 Marquette 721
29 Oakland 728
30 Radford 761
31 Olivet Nazarene 776
32 Montreat 833

UP NEXT

HPU returns home to host the annual VertCross on October 15th at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville which is also the site of the Big South Championship on October 29th.


LOUISVILLE, KY – The High Point University women’s cross-country team finished 12th as a team with a score of 443 out of 32 teams at the 20th annual Live in Lou Classic hosted by Louisville on Saturday morning (Oct. 2nd). Lindsey Ickes led the way for HPU again finishing 62nd. Saturday was a chance for HPU to compete in the state of Kentucky in the same season that the University of Kentucky hosts the Regional.

Remy Tamer: This was the biggest competition we had been to in two years. It is the biggest one we have been to this year and then last year with Covid we haven’t been to something like this since 2019. Half of our team, the freshman and sophomores had not experienced this, I thought it was a fantastic preparation opportunity for the NCAA Regionals which will almost mirror this level of competition and the size. We also had some personal matchups with some conference teams in the race today. Radford has a great women’s team our women knew that going in and whether they knew where they were in the race or not we competed against them and they (Radford) came out on top. It was close, they finished one place in front of us but at a race like today that is not what we were after. Today our opponents were nameless and faceless and our ladies were trying to get the best out of it. I think we are making progress, every competition weekend we have had has been better than the last. However, we still have a little bit of we have a little more growth to make. We’re going to see the final growth potential in our women maximized in the next two to three weeks heading into the conference. Lindsey was good today I think she knows what she needs to work on. The things that get her, Sydney, and the rest of the crew sliding up are not magic it’s controllable. They are mental decisions, It’s showing up with strong will in the face of great competition and these ladies are ready for it they got it. Now our next step is to race at our home course, defend our turf and prepare for conference.

Ickes led the way for the Panthers as the first HPU finisher placing 62nd with a time of 17:44.2. was 59th at the first split of 2.1K she dropped slightly at 3.9K in 63rd place she was able to battle back and finish 62nd in Louisville.

Sydney Bagus finished 82nd for HPU finishing with a time of 18:00.01 the graduate student was able to move up five spots after the 3.9K split to finish 82nd. It was a personal best performance for Bagus who improved her PR by 15 seconds which set in the first race of the year in Boone.

Katie Taylor finished 86th pushing up three spots after the 3.9K with a time of 18:02.6. Taylor set a new PR by nearly twenty seconds.

Camryn Harper finished 117th with a time of 18:14.9 while the reigning Big South Freshman of the Week Anna Ritter improved on her time from her last race by 40 seconds. Ritter posted a time of 18:19.7 placing 123rd. Tatum Castillo finished 141st the sophomore finished with a time of 18:25.5.

Team Scores
1 Michigan 39
2 Wisconsin 75
3 West Virginia 122
4 Lipscomb 205
5 Mid. Tenn. State 213
6 Grand Valley St. 217
7 Miami (OH) 230
8 Loyola (IL) 289
9 UC-Colo. Spgs. 398
10 Johns Hopkins 399
11 Radford 424
12 High Point 443
13 Queens (NC) 468
14 St. Francis (IL) 535
15 Louisville 564
16 Ohio 581
17 Cedarville 586
18 UTEP 604
19 Miss State 611
20 Eastern Illinois 619
21 Cornerstone 631
22 Marquette 649
23 Hope 662
24 New Orleans 695
25 Oakland 705
26 Tennessee Tech 716
27 App State 718
28 ETSU 720
29 DePaul 724
30 Western Kentucky 758
31 West Texas A&M 762
32 Memphis 778

UP NEXT

HPU returns home to host the annual VertCross on October 15th at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville which is also the site of the Big South Championship on October 29th.