HPU Men’s Cross Country Unveils 2015 Schedule

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The defending Big South champion High Point University men’s cross country team has announced its 2015 schedule.

2015 Schedule

The Panthers will compete in five regular season meets before defending their league title at the Big South Championship in late October.

“Our goal is to one day make the NCAA national meet and this schedule is the next step toward that,” head coach Mike Esposito said. “This team has the potential to set a new bar of excellence for our High Point University cross country program. I’m looking forward to getting the season started in September.”

High Point opens the 2015 campaign with a Triad trek to Burlington to race in the Elon Invitational on Sept. 5. The Panthers then take a three-week break from competition and start a heavy block of training to prepare for the prestigious Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational. The meet will take place on Sept. 26 in Earlysville, Va. At last year’s Panorama meet, the Panthers raced against two nationally ranked and 10 regionally ranked opponents.

On Oct. 3, the Panthers get their first taste of the Big South Championship course when HPU races in the USC Upstate Invitational in Spartanburg, S.C.

From there, the Panthers split up for a pair of meets the weekend of Oct. 16-17. The program’s ‘B’ squad will return to the Triad for the Wake Forest Invitational Oct. 16 at the North Carolina state championship course in Kernersville, N.C. The Panthers’ top-7 runners will head to Louisville, Ky., to race against an elite field at the annual Pre National meet. The course will serve as the host for the 2015 NCAA Championship.

The Panthers then take a week off before defending their Big South crown on Oct. 31 with a return to the Spartanburg course. Then, HPU will look to improve upon its record 2014 NCAA Regional finish with a return to Panorama Farms to compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship on Nov. 13.

High Point returns four of its top-7 runners from a year ago, including 2014 Big South Runner of the Year and individual conference champion Jeff LaCoste. The Panthers also return all-Big South selections Ryan Udvadia and Paddy Grandinali, as well as seniors Benji Szalai and Cody Seymour and juniors Vinny Todaro and Chernet Sisay.

HPU won the Big South title in 2014 while posting a program record six all-conference selections. The team then placed seventh at the NCAA Southeast Regional, which tied for the best ever finish in school history.