ROCK HILL, S.C. — The High Point University men’s track & field team got victories from Dennis Crawford, Jacob Smith and Eddie Whitlock in the third day of the Big South Championship on Saturday in Rock Hill, S.C. The Panthers sit third with the high jump and pole vault remaining to be contested Monday.
Crawford won the 110-meter hurdles, Smith took the 5,000-meter and Whitlock won the 800-meter to power HPU to its third-place standing.
With two events remaining, Liberty leads the team scoring with 204 points followed by Coastal Carolina (158) and High Point (118). Campbell ranked fourth with 90 points followed by Gardner-Webb (52) and Charleston Southern (42). VMI ranked seventh with 39 points followed by Winthrop (14), UNC Asheville (12) and Radford (nine).
In the 110-meter hurdles, Crawford got out to a slim lead and held it over the final hurdles, finishing in a time of 14.35 in the pouring rain. It was a legal time after his career-best 14.28 in the preliminaries on Friday. He came back to place eighth in the 400-meter hurdles.
In the 800-meter, Whitlock took the lead on the back stretch and held it the rest of the way to win in 1:54.22. Liberty’s John Sherret made a strong push on the home stretch but Whitlock put his head down and sprinted the final 50 meters to hold him off. HPU sophomore Paul O’Donaghue placed sixth in the 800-meter in 1:58.24 after placing third in the 1,500-meter earlier in the day. Donaghue has rarely raced the 1,500-meter but finished in a career-best 3:58.68.
The Panthers cleaned up with 21 points in the 5,000-meter led by Smith’s victory. Smith, Patrick Crawford and Liberty’s Josh MacDonald and Caleb Edmonds separated from the rest of the field about halfway through the race. With 700 meters left, Crawford surged into the lead as Smith and Edmonds followed. With 300 to go, Smith began his kick with Edmonds trailing. Smith held his lead for the victory with a time of 14:28.12. Crawford took third in 14:33.34. HPU sophomore Paddy Grandinali took fifth in 14:47.41 and junior Jeff LaCoste placed eighth in 14:56.93.
Senior Evan Emery placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.76. Liberty’s ConRoy Smith got out to a fast start and won the race in 10.65. Emery led HPU’s 4×100 relay team to a fourth-place finish with a time of 43.05 earlier in the day. On the anchor leg, Emery took the baton behind but powered through to pass Gardner-Webb’s anchor and win the first heat. Emery finished his work with a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter.
Sophomore Will Narramore placed fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 13.59 meters (44-7) on his first attempt. Sophomore Nick Hula took sixth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.96. He came back to start HPU’s 4×400 relay. Hula, O’Donoghue, Whitlock and Austin Miller placed seventh with a time of 3:21.95 to finish the day’s events.
The Panthers got 19 points in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday and scored 11 points in the 10,000-meter on Thursday. In the steeplechase, seniors Patrick Crawford and Smith and junior Chris Colo finished 2-3-4. In the 10K, LaCoste placed third in his debut in the event while Grandinali took fourth. Junior Christian Spaulding placed third in the javelin on Friday.
The high jump and pole vault were postponed to Monday due to wet conditions. The Panthers will have four competitors in the pole vault led by No. 1 seed Austin Miller. Miller has a season-best of 4.85 meters (15-11). HPU has two entries in the high jump led by Max Coleman, who is seeded sixth with a season best of 1.94 meters (6-4.25).