Senior Jesse Cherry of the High Point University men's track & field team has been named Big South Conference Choice Hotels Athlete of the Week, the league announced on Wednesday. Cherry set the HPU record of 28:44.03 in the 10,000-meter while finishing sixth at the Stanford Invitational last Friday.

Cherry's time ranks sixth in the nation. He broke his own HPU record of 28:59.16, which he set at the Stanford Invitational last year. Prior to Cherry, the school record was 30:29.26 set by Tamas Kovacs at the Wake Forest Open in 2007.

Cherry is the defending Big South champ in the 10,000-meter. During the 2010 indoor season, Cherry broke his own HPU indoor record in the 5,000-meter when he ran 14:02.86 at the Washington Husky Classic. At the Big South Championship he won the 5,000-meter and took second in the 3,000-meter.

Also at the Stanford Invitational, senior Cole Atkins made his debut in the 10,000-meter and ran a time of 29:20.77 and sophomore Neal Darmody ran a career-best 30:25.03 in that event.

Cherry will next run at the Big South Championship April 16-17 in Charleston, S.C.