High Point University Women's Cross Country

Excellence in the Esposito Era 14-Time Big South Track and Field Coach of the Year 2-time Big South XC Coach of the Year 4 Big South Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships 4 Big South Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships 5 Big South Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championships 5 Big South Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships 2 Big South Cross Country Championships 24 Athletes sent to NCAA Championship   22 All-Americans 113 NCAA Regional Qualifiers under Esposito  18 (2025), 11 (2024), 9 (2023), 11 (2022), 11 (2021), 3 (2019), 6 (2018), 2 (2017), 8 (2016), 4 (2015), 5 (2014), 5 (2013), 5 (2012), 4 (2011), 7 (2009), 3 (2008), 1 (2006) 24 Track student-athletes advanced to NCAA National Championships under Esposito 5 (2025), 3 (2024), 5 (2023), 3 (2022), 2 (2021), 1 (2018), 2 (2016), 1 (2014), 1 (2013), 1 (2012) Mike Esposito was named the director of Track & Field at HPU in 2005 since then Espo has taken High Point Track to new heights. Esposito led both the men’s and women’s programs to their first Big South team Championships in 2020 at the Big South Indoor Track and Field Championships. Coming back after the COVID stoppage Espo and the Panthers followed up their double championship win indoors with both teams winning the Big South outdoor championships for the first time in 2021 inside Vert Stadium. Since 2021, HPU has swept five straight outdoor Big South Championships and recently won back-to-back-to-back men's and women's indoor Big South Championships in 2023, 2024 and 2025.   “One thing we always talk about in track & field, you’re allowed to celebrate this sport is amazing!”- Coach Mike Esposito pic.twitter.com/sb7779PXQH — HPU T&F/XC (@HPUTrack) May 17, 2021   Espo takes great pride in hosting some of the premier college track and cross country meets in the country in High Point each year. Esposito is the creator of the VertKlasse meeting a tribute to the WeltKlasse meeting.  “Vertklasse is in honor of Mr. Dick Vert and his wife and based off of the WeltKlasse Zürich in Switzerland. (It is invitation-only and generally held at the end of August. It is sometimes referred to as the one-day Olympics. My number one bucket list item is to attend the meet in person.” Esposito’s latest home meet creation is the Meet of Champions which will be hosted this year in Vert Stadium. The meet will include the CUSA Champion (UNCC), MEAC Champion NC A&T, ACC Champion Duke, ASUN Champion Liberty and Big South Champion HPU. It will be a one of a kind meet that will include team scoring.  Under Esposito, Vert stadium has seen massive improvements non more noticeable than the Purple Beynon track which was installed in the summer of 2021. High Point University Track & Field where fantasy becomes reality!#DefendTheTeam x #GoHPU pic.twitter.com/RHcphXMUVQ — HPU T&F/XC (@HPUTrack) September 30, 2021 In 2019, Esposito led the Panther women to back-to-back runner-up finishes in the indoor and outdoor Big South Championships, setting program records for points scored in the conference meet during both seasons. He led the HPU men to a third-place finish in the Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships as well, scoring 130 points as a team. Between both High Point track and field teams, sixteen program records were rewritten during the 2018-19 seasons, with three individual athletes qualifying for NCAA East Preliminaries in the outdoor campaign. Jacob Smith qualified twice in the 3,000m steeplechase (2012, 2014), earning second-team All-America honors in 2014 and honorable mention accolades in 2012. 2016 was a historic year for HPU track and field as it was the first year two student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships, including Christian Spaulding (men's javelin) and Christine Rickert (women's javelin). Rickert was the first HPU female to advance to the national meet. Hocine Bouchrak represented High Point at the 2018 NCAA Championship as a freshman, coming in 18th in the 3000m Steeple (8:57.04) to earn All-America honorable mentions. In 2013, Esposito guided Dakota Peachee to the NCAA final in the 3,000m steeplechase and a fifth-place finish, the highest NCAA finish in program history. In 2014, the Panther men also finished seventh at the NCAA Cross Country Southeast Regional Championship, tying the program's best-ever finish in regional action. Since Esposito took over the program, 35 Panthers have earned All-Big South men's cross country accolades. A total of 13 Panthers earned all-conference honors while Esposito was in charge of the women's cross country program. He is a three-time Big South Coach of the Year and has earned the accolade for men's cross country (2014), indoor track & field (2012) and women's cross country (2011). HPU records have been set in 38 events on the women's side and 32 events on the men's side since 2006.  Three of Esposito's former HPU runners have gone on to the professional ranks: Cole Atkins and Jesse Cherry are both former runners for ZAP Fitness, while Tamas Kovacs ran marathons professionally in Hungary. Kovacs participated in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympic Games, while Cherry and Atkins participated in Olympic Trials in 2016.  Esposito's squads also perform well off the track, as HPU has posted a perfect APR score of 1000 in women's cross country and track & field, earning the program NCAA Public Recognition honors in 2015. In addition, the men's cross country and track & field programs registered perfect single-year scores of 1000 in 2013-14 and have a strong-four year average score of 987. The Punxsutawney, Pa., native came to High Point following 19-years as the head coach at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. At Mount Tabor, Esposito coached four national champions, four national runners-up, three Footlocker finalists, over 52 individual and relay state champions, and 11 state champion teams. Esposito was honored for his success on the track by having been named Conference Coach of the Year 22 times and N.C. Coach of the Year eight times. Mount Tabor's men's cross country teams went undefeated from 1994 until Esposito's final season of 2005, and the women's team was nationally ranked in 2000 and 2001. Esposito served as the co-director of the North Carolina Indoor and Outdoor Track Championships on numerous occasions and was the director for the state cross country meet from 2002-04. Esposito, a graduate of Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., played basketball for the Titans before joining the cross country and track teams. He was named most valuable runner in 1979 and 1980.  

Hall brings four decades of elite track & field experience to the HPU program and an impressive student-athlete alumni list that includes 150+ NCAA Championship qualifiers, 97 NCAA All-Americans, 80+ conference champions, 16 NCAA Champions and six Olympians.   "Scott's extensive experience at all levels of track & field will be a fantastic asset for our program," Esposito said. "He's a very high character person and he will make an incredible impact with our student-athletes. We are excited to have Scott on board."   Recognized as one of the top combined events coaches in the United States, Hall served as Chair for Combined Events on the USATF Olympic Development Committee from 1999-2012. He has also been named to seven Team USA international coaching staffs as either a coach or manager.  In 2012, Hall served as Coach of the Liberian Olympic team for the London Games.   Under his direction, athletes have earned berths on more than twenty US national teams and six of those athletes have also gone on to compete in the IAAF World Championships, Pan American Games or the Olympic Games.   In the collegiate ranks, Hall's most recent coaching stints have included stops at Wake Forest (2003-12), North Carolina A&T and Salisbury (2013-15).   At Wake Forest, Hall mentored 11 ACC individual champions, eight All-Americans and one NCAA individual champion. He garnered USTFCCCA Div. I National and East Region Men's Sprints/Hurdles Coach of the Year honors in 2006 as a member of the Demon Deacon Staff.   In his most recent stint at Salisbury, Hall worked with 12 All-Americans, six NCAA Div. III individual champions and two Div. III Athletes of the Year.  He was part of the 2014 & 2015 Capital Athletic Conference Indoor & Outdoor Coaching Staffs of the Year and the 2014 Capital Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year.   Prior to his time in the Tar Heel State, Hall spent close to two decades as the director of men's & women's track & field and cross country at Northern Colorado University (1986-2003), a perennial top-20 program. A two-time North Central Conference Track & Field Coach of the Year, Hall also garnered NCC Cross Country Coach of the Year accolades in 2000. He also was named the NCAA II North Central Region Women's Cross Country and Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2000.   While in Greeley, Hall also taught as an assistant professor of kinesiology at Northern Colorado.   Hall served as an assistant track & field coach at Idaho State in 1982-85 and also worked as head coach of the Pocatello Track Club while at ISU from 1983-85.   Hall graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1980 with a degree in physical education. He earned his M.P.E. in athletic administration from Idaho State in 1981 and completed his doctorate in mechanical kinesiology at Northern Colorado in 1993.Scott Hall

In the 2022 Outdoor Championships, Houston led the women's pole vault team to a podium sweep as HPU claimed the top three spots. Sydney Horn finished in first with a mark of 4.34 m. Mackenzie Horn was right behind her with a 4.34 m finish, a personal best. Rachel Vesper rounded out the group with a mark of 4.13 m, a personal best. Houston helped claim three of the top four spots on the men's side as well. He led Adam Craig to the individual crown with a season best mark of 4.81 m. Kolt Byers finished in second with a personal best mark of 4.61 m, while Cole Holliday finished in fourth with a mark of 4.41 m, a personal best for him.  Houston led Horn to a third straight National Championship as they competed in the 2022 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Sydney Horn finished as the National Runner-Up in the women's pole vault after clearing a lifetime best 4.46 m, which is a school record and conference record.  In the 2022 Indoor Championships, Houston led Adam Craig to a second place finish after clearing a mark of 4.55 m. He also led the Panther women to the top four finishes in the event, led by Sydney Horn who set a new Big South Indoor record after clearing a mark of 4.42 m.  Houston led Sydney Horn to a historic 2021 season as she made program history at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships as she recorded back-to-back All-American performances at both track and field championships in the same season, the first Panther woman to accomplish this feat. Horn finished sixth at the NCAA outdoor Championships, the highest finish in program history. She is the first athlete to earn All-American honors at an NCAA Outdoor Championship. Horn finished the 2021 season as Big South Field Athlete of the year. Scott Houston played a big role in the High Point Sweep of the 2021 Big South Outdoor Championships. He guided Adam Craig to an individual championship after he cleared the mark of 4.85 m, a personal best for Craig. On the women's side he led the Panthers to sweep the podium. Sydney Horn won the individual championship after she cleared 4.44 m, a facility record, personal record and meet record. Nathalie Elliot and Mackenzie Horn finished in second and third place respectively. The Horn sisters and Elliot all qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Championships.  Houston guided freshman, Sydney Horn to a third place finish in the NCAA Indoor National Championships. She became the first High Point athlete to finish third in an NCAA National Championship. She set a new school record as she cleared the bar at 4.41 m, earning All American honors. Horn finished as the #1 freshman in collegiate indoor track and field for the 2021 season.    In the 2020 Big South Indoor Championships, Houston led the Panthers to a first, second, and two tied for sixth place finish. Haley Doyle and Emma Grace tied for sixth with a mark of 3.36 m, a personal best for Doyle. Rachael Berndsen finished in second with a mark of 3.51 m. Mackenzie Horn secured the crowned for the Panthers when she cleared the 4.00 m mark.  One of the best active pole vaulters in the United States, Scott Houston joined the High Point University track & field staff in September 2015 as an assistant coach. The Panthers have seen the fruits of hiring Houston, as HPU has captured eight Big South pole vault titles in Houston's four seasons. Between Carter Clasper and Nathalie Elliott, HPU took home four pole vault championships in the 2018-19 indoor and outdoor seasons, with both athletes competing in NCAA East Preliminaries. Under the tutelage of Houston, Elliott set a new Panther program record in the indoor season while clearing a height of 4.12m, and turned in a mark of 4.16m in the outdoor campaign. Miller finished 17th at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in 2016, while both Marois and Alyssa Palenchar qualified on the women's side. Elliott cleared 3.78m at 2018 prelims to finish 32nd as a freshman.  Houston guided freshman Carter Clasper to second place at both the Big South indoor and outdoor championships, and again as a sophomore in 2018. Elliott claimed an indoor conference title in the same year, while taking second in the Big South outdoor championships.  Houston finished fourth at the USA Indoor Championships in 2015 and fifth at the outdoor national championships in 2017. He cleared the World Championship standard of 5.78m (18-11.5) at the Charlotte Street Vault in July 2017. Most recently, Houston claimed a national title at the 2018 USATF Indoor Championships, while earning his first international gold at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships this past August. Houston came to HPU after serving as a volunteer assistant at Indiana University from 2013-15 while pursuing a post-collegiate pole vault career. The Oak Ridge, N.C., native is an accomplished vaulter that starred at both the University of North Carolina and Indiana.   While serving as a volunteer assistant at Indiana, Houston helped mentor  Terry Batemon to an outdoor Big Ten Championship in 2015, and an NCAA berth. Sophie Gutermuth was a runner up at both indoor and outdoor Big Ten championships in 2015 while setting an NCAA indoor qualifying mark and new indoor school record of 4.35m.   Houston also worked with multi-event student-athletes at IU and led two Hoosiers to All-America honors in the heptathlon at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships.   In 2014, Houston also mentored the women's vault trio of Kelsie Ahbe, Sophie Gutermuth, and Sydney Clute to a first, second, and fourth place finish at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Ahbe and Clute went on to become NCAA All-Americans during the outdoor season, with Ahbe setting a school record at 4.40m, escalating herself to the NCAA runner up finish.   As a student-athlete at Indiana, Houston was an NCAA Championship outdoor qualifier and won the Big Ten Indoor title in 2013. At North Carolina, Houston finished third in the vault at the 2009 ACC Outdoor Championships and still holds the fifth-best vault mark all-time at Chapel Hill.   In his post-collegiate career, Houston has posted personal best vaults of 5.51m in indoor competition and 5.63 in outdoor action. He has qualified for the United States Indoor and Outdoor Championships and recently won the prestigious Brit's Pub Vault in Minneapolis on Sept. 5 with a victorious vault of 5.63m (18-5.5).   Houston also still holds the indoor and outdoor North Carolina high school pole vault records.

Shamoya Pruitt joined the Panthers as an assistant track and field coach in August 2017. Pruitt works with the Panther sprints and hurdles groups. In her first year with High Point, Panther sprinters/hurdlers claimed a pair of podium spots at the 2018 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Over the 2018-19 campaigns, High Point collected seven top-three finishes in the same set of events in addition to tying or bettering eight program records. With Pruitt's guidance, sprinter/jumper Daniel Bogle collected 2019 Big South Indoor Freshman of the Year honors in his first year with the Panthers.   Pruitt came to High Point from Bradley University, where she served as an assistant coach and worked with and recruited the sprints, hurdles and jumps groups. Prior to Bradley, she served as a volunteer assistant coach at Wichita State from 2014-16 and also worked with the Shocker Track Club.   She was a four-year All-Missouri Valley Conference performer and helped the Shockers win the 2014 MVC outdoor title. She holds multiple all-time top-10 times at Wichita State in the sprint events.   Pruitt graduated from Wichita State in 2015 with a degree in health science with an emphasis in exercise science.