HPU Women’s Cross Country
LOUISVILLE, KY — The High Point University Women’s Cross-Country team finished in 16th place with a team score of 449 on Friday morning at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Louisville, KY. Lindsey Ickes was the top finisher for the Panthers placing 46th at the regional race with a time of 21.24.09, which was a personal best of 59 seconds. North Carolina State won the Southeast Regional with a team score of 34.
Remy Tamer: You can sit here and go would’ve, could’ve, should,ve, what if we had this person? But we don’t. The total team score was what it was, we were focused on as a team, each individual lets get after it. Within the team umbrella each individual do what you came here to do and I think that we did that. That was today, what we talked about was regardless of what the results were what I really liked was I felt that women leaned in to the challenge rather then shy away or get nervous, or give up, nobody gave up. Nobody dropped out or came into the race with a bad attitude. They were leaning into the experience no matter what was going to happen they were hungry for it so that is something you can build on. I am okay with that and I love that.
Tamer on the season: The season as a whole, we had a lot of ups and down but oddly enough this is weirdly going to be probably the most impactful season for me as a coach and hopefully for the athletes because of the downs and the adversity we had and we were still able to accomplish a great deal. The women on this team will be better women for it. I asked all the ladies after is this something we can be proud of? And all of them said absolutely and not because we won a national championship or this or that but because we handled everything that came our way. Whether it was good or bad so I am okay with that. The conference championship is obviously great but I think this experience is going to make us so hungry to win more team titles in track and of course for cross country next year.
Panther Particulars
Ickes led the way for HPU as she has in each race this season for HPU taking on a new role in her junior season. Ickes improved from 68th place at the 1K mark all the way to 46th at the end of the race and split her final 1K in 3:30 flat. Senior Sydney Bagus was the second scorer for the Panthers with an individual finish of 75th and a time of 22:04.4, which was a personal best of 23 seconds. Bagus also improved from the 1k split as she rose from 83rd to her final finish of 75th. Senior Franzi Jakobs was the third scorer for the Panthers with an individual finish in 80th and a time of 22:08 flat, which was a personal best of 22 seconds. Jakobs made her major move of the race between 1 and 3k, when she improved 10 places. Jakobs continued to surge and improved her place at every split. The fourth scorer for the Panthers was Camryn Harper, who finished in 117th place, with a time of 22:40.4, a personal best of 33 seconds. Harper improved 14 places between the 1k and 3k marks. The final scorer for the Panthers was Katie Taylor, who finished in 148th place with a time of 23:11.4.
Also, Olive Allen finished in 166th place with a time of 23:28.8 and Lucy Clayton finished in 185th place with a time of 23:53.4. The Panthers completed their season in Louisville placing in the NCAA Southeast Regional after winning their fifth straight Big South title two weeks ago.
HPU Men’s Cross Country
LOUISVILLE, KY — The High Point University Men’s Cross-Country team finished in 15th place with a team score of 425 on Friday morning at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Louisville, KY. Hocine Bouchrak was the top finisher for the Panthers placing 42nd at the regional race with a time of 30:29.8, which was a personal best of 5 seconds. Wake Forest won the Southeast Regional with a team score of 47.
Mike Esposito: “We always talk about facts vs dreams and the facts are this is where we are right now. I thought Spencer really showed some life and we engaged better early but we have to get better. All in all it was not a disappointing day it was a par performance. I feel bad for Hocine, he certainly expected to be up there higher but by and large there were some great positives. We engaged better we just got get a little swagger about us and we will. ”
Panther Particulars
Bouchrak led the way for HPU as he has in each race this season for HPU. Bouchrak made his major of the race between the 3k mark and the 5k mark when he improved from 59th to 46th place. Bouchrak split his final 1k in 2:54.7 to finish in 42nd overall. The second scorer for the Panthers was Spencer Smucker who finished in 64th overall, with a time of 31:01.6, which was a personal best of 44 seconds. Smucker jumped 18 spots between the 4k and 6k mark of the race. The third scorer for the Panthers was Hunter Steinau who finished in 105th place with a time of 31:50.5. This was Steinau’s first 10k of his career and his first appearance at the NCAA Southeast Regionals. The fourth scorer for the Panthers was Ian Miller, who finished in 107th place, with a time of 31:51.9, which was a personal of 55 seconds. Miller improved thirteen places between the 5k mark and the finish. The final scorer for the Panthers was Stephen Gray, who finished in 132th place, with a time of 32:18.2.
Also, Jake Tarosky finished in 186th place with a time of 34:03.4 and Rayan Vanderpoorten was unable to finish the race. The Panthers completed their season in Louisville placing in the NCAA Southeast Regional after winning their fifth straight Big South title two weeks ago.