2009 HPU Athletic Awards

We had three winners at the All-Sports Awards Ceremony on Monday evening.



The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) chooses the Sportspersons of the Year factoring in athletic contributions along with leadership, community service and academics. Men's basketball player Melvin Crowder earned the Sportsman of the Year while cross country and track standout Kali Burt was named the Sportswoman of the Year.Burt has garnered All-Big South honors in cross country all four years. She has earned Millis Scholar Athlete honors and a spot on the Big South Presidential Honor Roll every year. Burt has been involved in several community service activities including the Amani Service Project and she volunteers as a weekly lunch buddy at a local elementary school.


HPU cross country and track runner Shauna Marsh is this year's recipient of the Tobias Award. Marsh, a four-year athlete, earned Millis Scholar-Athlete and Big South Presidential Honor Roll distinction every year of her career. She was a member of the 2009 Big South Indoor Champion distance medley relay team and was a runner up in the mile event. Recently, Marsh won the Big South title in the 1,500-meter event at the League's outdoor championships. Marsh has been active off the track as well, attending the NCAA Leadership Conference and working with the Amani Service Project. With a 3.978 GPA, Marsh will graduate in May with a degree in biology.


Jesse Cherry is the 2008-2009 Athlete of the Year. Cherry has won three Big South titles this past year including the indoor 3,000 and 5,000-meter events as well as the outdoor 10,000-meter. He has garnered All-Conference honors seven times as a Panther with five of those honors coming this season. In the fall, he was named to the NCAA All-South East Regional team. Cherry has already provisionally qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000-meter, an event in which he is currently ranked 16th in the nation.

More About Penn

The Penn Relays is about as exciting as you can get (second only to the Vertklasse). While we were waiting for our Men's DMR, Espo and I got to meet Jim Ryun, and he signed our baton. You can see him below.



Jevin Monds (1200), Josh Cashman (400), Josh Morgan (800), and Anthony Berkis (1600) competed in the College Men's Distance Medley Relay, placing 8th, and running 9:58.56 to set a new school record. You can see clips of their race below:



If you haven't been to Penn, check out this clip to see what it's like outside the stadium.



Joya Canfield, Kelsey Fraser, Geneva Winterink, and Shauna Marsh teamed up to race in the College Women's 4x800 meter relay.



And follow the men into the stadium as Josh Cashman, Anthony Berkis, Corey Grove, and Josh Morgan race the College Men's 4x8.



When all the races had been run, we headed to the airport.

Thursday at Penn

Manika competed well in the 400 Hurdles:

1 17 Fawn Dorr Penn State 0:57.78 3
2 5 Kishelle Paul TCU 0:58.86 1
3 9 Caroline Vaughn Wake Forest 0:58.92 2
4 12 Ashley Trimble Kentucky 0:59.38 2
5 15 Amber Hay Michigan 0:59.62 2
6 13 Jennifer Sabra Western Michigan 0:59.62 2
7 22 Janica Austin South Carolina 1:00.10 3
8 61 Jackie Coward Central Florida 1:00.42 1
9 7 Leslie Njoku Georgia Tech 1:00.88 1
10 73 Ryann Krais UCLA 1:00.95 1
11 38 Manika Gamble High Point 1:00.98 5

Christina Fenske followed up her win at the Big South Championships with another solid day!

1 13 Monique Roberts Columbia 1.72 (5-7.75)
2 22 Aisha Jones N.C.-Wilmington 1.72 (5-7.75)
3 19 Bianca Stewart Georgia Tech 1.68 (5-6)
4 17 Chelsea Morse Lock Haven 1.68 (5-6)
4 30 Katelyn Williams West Virginia 1.68 (5-6)
6 16 Alexis Brown Western Michigan 1.68 (5-6)
7 44 Christina Fenske High Point 1.68 (5-6)

The DMR had mixed reviews.

Here's some clips from the day. It all ends well:)

HPU, Penn Relays CRIBS!

I don't want to give away the surprise, but this one is a little creepy. Take our survey too!

And the Rocky Steps

Just something you have to do at Penn.

Watch This!

We had a little bit of a flight delay on our way to Penn, which gave us the opportunity to discuss our running watches. Watch this!

HPU CRIBS, Part 4

This edition of HPU CRIBS takes us to the dorm room of Jesse Cherry and Josh Morgan. What they don't talk about (because this was filmed before the meet this weekend) is that Jesse cut his finger in animal biology with a razor, had to get stitches, and opted for the tetanus shot so that he didn't come down with lock jaw. They promised him the shot would not affect his running, but if you saw him race this weekend, you would know otherwise, due to the funny way he was carrying his arms. We never know what is going to happen with our runners, but we love and hate the unique experiences they bring all at the same time. Like TJ, our pole vaulter, who had a guy hit him over the head with a wrench two days before the conference meet in an attempt to steal his truck at a gas station. The guy picked on the wrong vaulter. TJ knocked him out, called the police, and then sat on him until the police arrived. He was wanted in at least 8 other cases. Just when we think we've seen it all, something else surprises us. Like Josh drinking milk from the floor. . . check out the video and take our survey on the left <--

Vertklasse 2009

Vertklasse 2009 will be High Point University's first home track & field meet in quite some time. There has been much probing as to the naming of this event, so I thought we should provide a little history.

When we decided to organize a home meet, we sat down to think about what kind of meet we wanted to have. If you know anything about High Point University, you know that it's a "WOW" school. HPU strives to be extraordinary in every way. . . SO we want this meet to be extraordinary. Espo, one of the biggest fans of track & field there is, thought of the Weltklasse in Zurich (Weltklasse, pronounced with a "V"). Here's what the Weltklasse Website says about their meet:

They always give it everything; they run the fastest, they throw the farthest, jump the farthest and the highest. Athletes performing at Weltklasse Zurich are all world class representatives of their sport. Every year, they meet in Zurich before the legendary Letzigrund audience for a night of highest-level, emotional track and field.

Weltklasse Zürich is considered the most renowned, the most prestigious one-day athletics event worldwide. Adepts of the sport call it ‘the Olympic Games in one night'. And with a reason: traditionally, the fields staged in the Letzigrund feature all notables of the various disciplines. The next chance to see them will be Friday, August 28th, 2009.

Well we wanted this same format, a one-evening, high intensity track & field Classic, or Klasse, I should say. We want it to move pretty quickly from event to event. We want fast races, with athletes competing for spots at the NCAA Regional, we want high schoolers trying to qualify for spots at their National Championship in events that they don't often get a chance to contest (jav, steeple, 400H). We want it all.

So we are naming it after two of those responsible for our stadium, Dick & Peg Vert who met at High Point University. Dick ran for the Panthers and is one of our number 1 supporters. But the naming of this meet also alludes to prestigious Weltklasse, and we hope this combo produces some of the greatest performances this track has seen.

If you haven't see the video on the Weltklasse website, you should definitely check it out! Click here for the video. It will get you excited for the Vertklasse!