PEMBROKE, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan Women's Track team and the Men's Club Track team participated in the 1st meet of the season at D2 UNC-Pembroke University on Friday. The Wesleyan teams ran against very talented D2 and D3 teams with the women ending the day tied for 4th place out of 10 teams, and the men finishing in 6th place out of 11 teams.
"The weather was cold and windy which was not optimal for fast running times, but gave the athletes a chance to show their competitiveness," commented Coach Marshall Leonard.
The day started off with the 4x100 relay teams showing off how good they can be as the women won the race with a time of 55 seconds. The men then finished 3rd with a time of 44.54. The meet continued with the 1500 meter race that saw sophomore Terenthen Parker run a new personal best time of 4:26 and finished in 12th place. Freshmen Teanna Bellamy and Sania Ashe-Lee showed a lot of heart and fight as they raced in the 400 meter sprint with Bellamy finishing 5th overall (1:04) and Ashe-Lee finishing in 8th place (1:08).
They next ran in the 800 meters which saw freshman Cedara Franklin finish in 8th place with a time of 2:54. The men's race saw Parker finish in 5th place (2:14) and sophomore Keyonte Williams finish in 6th place with a time of 2:15. Junior Ken'Dreall Copeland also finished 18th overall out of 26 in the women's 200 meters in 30.1 seconds.
"This was a good starting point for our program, and now we know where we stand and what we need to improve on to compete at a high level," said Coach Leonard. "We have the potential to do some great things this season and the student athletes are excited about their potential."
The track teams return to action next weekend in the UNC-Wilmington Invitational.