2010 HPU Cross Country Schedule

The 2010 High Point University men's and women's cross country schedule was announced by head coach Mike Esposito on Wednesday. The eight-meet schedule begins Sept. 3 at Appalachian State, the Panthers will run in the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 1 and will run in the Big South Championship at Radford on Oct. 30.

"We have high expectations going into the fall and with our location we are able to run a very competitive schedule with minimal travel," said Esposito. "There is great competition in our region and we will travel to Pennsylvania for the Paul Short Invitational to run against nationally-ranked teams in October."

The Panthers will run at Appalachian State twice – opening the season with the Covered Bridge Open on Sept. 3 and again for the Blue Ridge Open on Oct. 15 in Boone, N.C. The HPU men's cross country team won the Blue Ridge Open last year, beating 18 other teams for the title.

High Point will run in the Big South Preview on Sept. 25 at Radford. The Highlanders will host the Big South Championship on Oct. 30 in Radford, Va. HPU will look to improve on its 2009 finishes, when the men's team was runner-up to Liberty and the women's team placed fourth.

The Paul Short Invitational, hosted by Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., is one of the top meets in the country. The Panthers will compete in the meet for the first time on Oct. 1. HPU will also send runners to the Hagan Stone Classic in Greensboro, N.C., on Oct. 2.

High Point University will compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship on Nov. 13 at Louisville with hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Championship, which will be held Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The HPU men's cross country team returns six of its top-eight runners from the 2009 team that was runner-up at the conference championship. That included top-10 finishers Neal Darmody and Jacob Smith as well as sophomores Stuart Edmonds and 3Dakota Peachee#, who placed 13th and 14th at the 2009 Big South Championship. Junior Mike Ali and senior Jevin Monds also return for the 2010 campaign.

The High Point women's team returns All-Conference honoree Emily Webb, who will be a senior in 2010. The Panthers also return Brittany Killough and 3Monica Delizo#, who each showed great improvement over the 2009-10 cross country and track seasons, as well as junior Kelsey Fraser, who placed 24th at the Big South Championship in each of the last two seasons.