HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University track & field head coach Mike Esposito announced Monday that Scott Houston has joined the program's staff as an assistant coach.
 
Houston comes 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.
 
He finished fourth at the USA Indoor Championships in 2015 and aims to make the U.S. roster for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
 
"Scott brings elite competing experience to our staff," Esposito said. "He has a lot of enthusiasm and his youthful energy is infectious. He has a passion for vaulting and is excited about the emphasis we place on it here at High Point. Our student-athletes will benefit greatly from his mentorship and expertise."
 
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.
 
Houston looks forward to contributing the the Panthers track and field program, and is exciting to be back home in North Carolina to continue growing in his coaching career.
 
#GoHPU