WILMINGTON, N.C. - On Saturday the NCWC Men's and Women's track team traveled to compete against Division 1 and Division 2 teams in the UNCW Seahawk Invitational, as NC Wesleyan was the only Division 3 team invited to run in the season-opening meet.
The men were lead by a record-breaking performance from freshman Chris Sielkowski, as he won the 5000 meter race in17:08 with a strong sprint against a fellow competitor from Div. II Francis Marion, while sophomore Philly Barungi finished a close third in 17:45.
The women's team was led by sophomore Teanna Bellamy as she ran 1 second off her best time from last season (1:05), and finished in 8th place overall in the 400 meters. Freshman Catalina Hermosa competed in the same heat as Teanna, and showed toughness as this was her first college race finishing in 1:19.
Freshman Noah Strange represented the men in the 400 meter sprint, and ran a good race in 58.8 seconds to place 8th.
"All of our 400 meter runners have great potential to finish the season as very strong contenders in the conference," commented Coach Leonard.
The next event of the day was the 1500 meter run, the "Top Distance Event" of the day, which included the most talented distance runners from each team. NC Wesleyan was represented by senior Andrew Bowen, junior Terenthen Parker, sophomore Maleik Small, and junior Keyonte Williams. Parker finished the highest in 10th place in 4:39 with Small right behind in 11th in 4:43. Bowen then came in 12th in 4:48 while Williams was 13th in 5:01.
Freshman Blaise Gourley was the next athlete to represent NCWC as he ran the 100 meter sprint and finished 13th in 12.9 seconds. This was Gourley's first collegiate race.
The 800 meter run was next and was led by Parker who finished 11th overall in 2:14, and was followed closely by Small in 12th in 2:17, Williams in 14th in 2:25 and Bowen in 15th in 2:30.
The NC Wesleyan Track & Field team has a talented roster and they are ready to show their potential this season.
"We have some talented young adults, and I am excited to see what they can do," Coach Leonard mentioned. "We have a lot of work to do, and everyone is excited about doing the work to make large improvements."
"We enjoyed the first race of the season and shaking off all that rust," Leonard said. "We set the starting point of what we can do, and now we need to start making improvements on that." " We have the ability to have a great season if we take care of the smaller things and take advantage of our strengths."