BEREA, KY - The NC Wesleyan College women's track & field team, in their first full season, went on to finish in 8th place out of 12 teams at the two-day USA South Conference Meet at Berea College in Kentucky. 

Wesleyan totaled 36 points while Piedmont College finished first and Covenant took second. 

Sophomore Teanna Bellamy led the Lady Bishops by finishing 2nd in the 400 meter prelims with a time of 1:02.7 before coming back in the finals to also finish in 2nd place with a time of 1:03.3 to earn team points. 

Freshman Florentina Lonati then led the women in the 400 meter Hurdles by placing 7th in the prelims with a time of 1:26 while sophomore Snejana Spinache and freshman Catalina Hermosa also ran times of 1:31 and 1:36 in the prelims, but did not qualify for the finals. In the finals, Lonati then finished in 5th place for 4 team points with a time of 1:22 as she improved her time by 4 seconds. 

Then, in the 3000 meter Steeplechase, Spinache and Hermosa also competed and came in 6th and 7th place respectively. Spinache had a time of 15:46 to grab 3 team points while Hermosa finished in 16:23 for two more points. 

Wesleyan then finished 3rd out of four in the 4x100 meter relay with a time of 58 seconds for six team points. The relay team consisted of Bellamy, Spinache, sophomore Toni Foster, and Hermosa. The 4x400 meter relay team then finished 7th in a time of 4:47 and it consisted of Lonati leading the first leg with Spinache, Hermosa, and Bellamy following with the final leg time of 1:04.

Hermosa then began the field events by placing 7th out of 10 with a mark of 1.23 meters in the High Jump. Lonati then followed in the Pole Vault making her season debut with a mark of 2.3 meters to place third.

Lonati also led the way in the Long Jump to finish 7th out of 16 with a mark of 4.19 meters while Foster was right behind in 11th with a mark of 3.66 meters. Sophomore Sidnie Parks jumped a mark of 3.32 meters as well. Lonati and Parks also each competed in the Shot Put with Lonati throwing a mark of 7.1 meters to place 19th and Parks right behind with a throw of 6.9 meters. 

Lonati then wrapped up the field events with the Javelin Throw by placing 8th out of 16 with a throw of 24.47 meters to earn a team point while freshman teammate Sarah Waters also placed 10th with a throw of 22.8 meters.

"I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish this year, with it being our first full season of this sport at NC Wesleyan and the Covid 19 situation," commented Coach Marshall Leonard. "The girls really stepped up and performed well in a variety of areas of the track."

"Most people do not understand that there are 20 different events in track & field and each one needs to be trained a different way," continued Leonard. "I put some ladies in some uncomfortable events because it was an event that was new to them. But they stepped up and did well, even scored points for us at the USA South Championships. We had one that had to high jump, run the 3000 meter steeple chase and 400 meter hurdles all within 30 minutes.  That is a very difficult task for any athlete. She completed those events and scored points for the team. I am very proud of them and am excited about our future."