ELON, N.C. — The High Point University men's cross country team opened its 2026 campaign with a strong team performance at the Elon Invitational, showing depth, poise and early season promise in the 6K race. The Panthers were packed in all places and put together a good starting point to the championship season.
Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Remy Tamer: "We measured our performance tonight based on how the men competed when things got tough. We weren't chasing fast times or big outcomes, we just wanted to see what kind of fight we have in us. And the men showed up with a little fight. Blake Nicholson made a strong move on lap 3 to break away from the pack and share the lead. He fought well and showed he's got more to show this season. Simon Treizenberg also ran a race like someone with a plan. He showed his intentions by going to the front and fighting the whole way. The men have much to clean up and we look forward to doing that work."
HPU's lead runner, Blake Nicholson, had an outstanding second-place performance with a finish of 19:05.8. Nicholson held onto a pace for a long time during the early stages, pushing to the front group and setting the tone for the Panthers to take the lead in their first race with a strong start to the season.
Simon Triezenberg followed with an eighth-place time of 19:26.5, giving High Point two scorers in the top 10. Triezenberg was in a great place during the race and anchored the Panthers' early pack with the help of the front-end strength of the team.
Max Bonilla continued the momentum with a time of 19:54.2, while Brayden Davis crossed the line at 20:04.8. Both were in the mix and contributed to a tight mid-race group that kept HPU on top in team scoring at the mid-race pace. Alex Contreras was next with a 20:12.4 finish and maintained his consistency in his early start.
Greg Abel, Will Katic, and Clark Lalomia finished strong to complete the Panthers' lineup. The group's ability to stay connected throughout the race indicated the depth and early-season cohesion of the team.
Now that the Panthers have a solid opening in their hands, they turn their focus to the N.C. State Adidas XC Challenge on September 18 to sharpen race execution and build momentum going into the Big South Championship stretch later this fall.
This content is sourced from
High Point
. It reflects the author's views and has not been edited by our newsroom. It may have been generated using AI assistance.
