Sophomore Alex Fisher took ninth in the 60-meter hurdles to lead the HPU men's track & field team in Friday night's portion of the Virginia Tech Challenge in Blacksburg, Va. The Panthers continue competition on Saturday.

"Fisher ran near a season best and was the first one to miss the finals. It was a photo finish," said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. "Looking to tomorrow, we're hoping for some fast times in the middle distance events."

In the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles, Fisher ran a time of 8.40 and was edged for a spot in the finals. UNC Wilmington's Devon Watlington and Johnson C. Smith's Christopher Sams also ran 8.40 but were just ahead of Fisher.

Junior Justin Conaway placed 13th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.06, just off his season best. Fisher also ran the 60-meter dash, finishing in 7.51. In the 200-meter, Sebastien Bonnot finished 34th in 23.88 and Fisher placed 38th in 24.38.

Freshman Dakota Peachee took fifth in his heat and 16th overall in the 3,000-meter, running a season-best time of 8:41.56. Sophomore Mike Ali placed 27th win a time of 9:13.69 in the 3,000 and senior Josh Cashman placed 28th in the 1,000-meter with a time of 2:36.11.

Sophomore Rob Pitts took 24th in the 600-meter with a time of 1:29.97 and freshman Ben Auyeung jumped 18'11 in the long jump to place 25th.

On Saturday, the Panthers will be looking for strong times in the 800-meter from Josh Morgan, Seth Harwood and Alex Ruano. In the mile, HPU will send Jevin Monds, Jacob Smith and Stuart Edmonds to the line and Bonnot will compete in the 400-meter.