HPU Track Recaps: Brant Tolsma Invitational

HPU Men: Van Niekerk And Dudley Set School Records At Brant Tolsma Invitational
HPU Women’s Recap below:

LYNCHBURG, Va. – High Point University track spent the weekend in Lynchburg for the second time already this season. From Thursday-Saturday the Panthers competed at the Brant Tolsma Invitational against Delaware State, Elon, Fayetteville State, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Hampton, High Point, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Richmond, VCU and Western Carolina. The weekend for the Panther men was highlighted by three school record breaking performances, two from Chris Van Niekerk in the shot put and weight throw and one from Deron Dudley in the 200m dash.

Mike Esposito: We had some kids win events this weekend and that’s the idea. We had lot of positives as I felt like we competed in almost every event. We had some kids really fight and compete which was impressive with everything going on. The highlight for the men was certainly Chris in the shotput. Chris is knocking at the door of the national meet he is right there; his series were very good he was very consistent. 18.88m is right there and with a throw like that you are knocking on the door of the national meet and just have a little more work to do. Alex (Hoffman) set personal best a meter at time, he’s figuring some things out, he had a good day. I liked the way our men’s vault showed some life today. We certainly had some disappointments. We must get everyone healthy but that’s the case for most teams in the country right now.

Panther Particulars

Chris Van Niekerk set a huge school record in the shot put when he threw 18.88m on Saturday afternoon to finish in first place. This throw broke his own school record of 17.62m which he set in December also at Liberty’s indoor track. This throw was also the best in Big South Conference Indoor Track history, breaking Ryan Smith’s (Liberty) mark of 18.33m, which had stood since 2012. Van Niekerk’s mark of 18.88m is currently 16th in the country. Freshman Alex Hoffman set a huge personal best of 16.29m to finish in seventh place.

Chris Van Niekerk also set a school record in the weight throw on Friday night. The junior has set many school records in his career already and on Friday he set another throwing a distance of 16.28m in the weight throw. Freshman Alex Hoffman came in fourth in the weight throw with a huge personal best throw of 15.54m.

For the second straight week Deron Dudley set another school record. This time it was in the 200m where he finished in a time of 21.55. Dudley now holds the HPU school indoor records in the 60m and 200m. Dudley finished third in the 60m dash with a time of 6.83.

Senior Hocine El Bouchrak won the mile with a time of 4:09.91.

Kolt Byers set a personal best with a high jump of 1.95m and finished in second place in the event.

Lorenzo Botter ran the first 800 of his High Point career and finished in fourth place with a time of 1:57.64.

Terris Burton finished in 3rd place in the open 400 with a time of 49.56 and finished 6th in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.60.

In the heptathlon, Tucker Conine finished third in the second section with a point total of 4,346. Evan Mills finished right behind him in fourth with a total of 4342.

Hunter Steinau and Kyler Koning finished in fifth and sixth place respectively in the men’s 3000m run.

Up Next

HPU travels to Columbia for the South Carolina Invitational next weekend. It will be HPU’s first time back to the campus of South Carolina since January of 2020.


HPU Women: Multiple Second Place Finishes Propel Panthers

LYNCHBURG, Va. – High Point University track spent the weekend in Lynchburg for the second time already this season. From Thursday-Saturday the Panthers competed at the Brant Tolsma Invitational against Delaware State, Elon, Fayetteville State, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Hampton, High Point, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Richmond, VCU and Western Carolina. The weekend for the Panther women was highlighted by a second place finish in the pole vault by Sydney Horn, a second place finish in the long jump by Alicia Dawson, a second place finish in the 3000m by Ashley Jones, and a second place finish in the mile by Hannah Brookover.

Mike Esposito: We had some kids win events this weekend and that’s the idea. We had lot of positives as I felt like we competed in almost every event. We had some kids really fight and compete which was impressive with everything going on. I was impressed with Ashley Jones as she is coming back and was able to set a PR today. Sydney jumped 4.26m and I trust in what her and Scott are doing to work to be ready for late in the season. We certainly had some disappointments. We must get everyone healthy but that’s the case for most teams in the country right now.

Panther Particulars

Horn jumped 4.26m in the women’s pole vault invitational on Saturday afternoon. Horn was clean through 4.26m, but just could not get over the 4.36m bar. Horn finished in second place as the top collegiate finisher. Horn’s mark of 4.34m from last week is still the 7th best mark in the country.

Dawson jumped 6.05 in the long jump on her second attempt to finish in second place. This was a solid improvement for Dawson after jumping 5.85 in the long jump last week at Virginia Tech. Dawson’s mark of 6.05m is currently ranked 24th in the country.

Jones returned to the track for the first time since the 2021 Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships and finished in second place in the 3000m run with a personal best time of 9:49.79. Sydney Bagus finished in fifth place in the event.

Brookover finished in second place in the mile with a time of 4:50.22, within a second of her personal best.

Nathalie Elliott was the top Panther female pole vaulter on Friday night in the women’s unseeded pole vault. Elliott jumped 3.80m finishing first overall. Rachel Vesper jumped 3.50m and finished fourth overall.

Nyile Facey finished in fourth place in the 60m hurdles final with a time of 8.70, while freshman Ebba Ahman finished in eight with a time of 9.03.

Up Next

HPU travels to Columbia for the South Carolina Invitational next weekend. It will be HPU’s first time back to the campus of South Carolina since January of 2020.