MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - This weekend the NC Wesleyan Track & Field teams traveled to D-2 Mount Olive to compete against schools from all divisions such as D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and Junior College. At the end of the meet the Bishops left the meet with some new school records and personal bests.
The meet started Friday night when freshman Chris Sielkowski ran in the 10K and walked away with a 1st place finish plus a new school record with a time of 36:52. "This was the first time Chris has ever ran this race and he showed himself to be a calm and mature freshman runner," said head coach Marshall Leonard.
On Saturday morning the team traveled back to Mount Olive and started off with the field events such as Long Jump, Shot Put, and Javelin.
The next event for her was the Javelin, where Andrew Bowen and Francisco Rodriguez, competed for the first time. Rodriguez left the meet with a school record of 31.5 meters to finish 9th and showed promise of even throwing better as the season goes along. Bowen was then 11th with a mark of 26.2 meters.
The afternoon rolled around and we continued to see personal bests and new school records. The afternoon started off with the 100 meter race and saw senior Blaise Gourley run a half second faster (11.98 seconds) than he ran the week prior. We also saw junior Luis Ross (12.3) and sophomore Joseph Turner (12.1) attain personal bests as well. The trio also ran in the 200 meter dash as well with Gourley grabbing the best time in 24.68 seconds while Turner was right behnd him in 24.72 while Ross finished in 25.2.
The men also ran the 400 meters and were led by junior Maleik Small who ran this race for the first time this season. He was placed in the 8th lane, which is a difficult lane to run in because your competion is staggered and they are behind you for 3/4ths of the race. It is easier to run while chasing someone, instead of being up front and being chased (which Maleik was in this race). He ran a solid race and left the meet holding the 3rd fastest time in school history in 55 seconds.
In the 800 meters, junior Keyonte Williams ran a solid race and ending the day with a new personal best by 2 seconds in 2:10. "He continued to fight during the race, even though he was almost put in a position where some athletes give in to the mental part of the race. Keyonte was mentally tough and I was proud to see him fight off the negative thoughts." said Coach Leonard.
Junior Terenthen Parker then placed 20th out of 30 in the 1500 meters finishing in a time of 4:31 while Sielkowski finished 14th out of 27 runners in the 3000 meters with a time of 17:11. Philly Barungi finished right behind him in the 3000 in a time of 17:47 to finish 20th as well.
The men and women competed in the 4x400 meter relay as well with the men (Small, Parker, Turner, and Achilles) running a program best under Coach Leonard finshing 5th out of 12 teams in 3:36. The only faster time was back in 1980 when Hall of Famer Wallace Johnson competed. This was the last race of the day and it an exciting race to watch as it brought excitement to the track. The men were in the last race of the day and it was a nail biter until the last few steps, and that is when Cameron Achilles pulled away for a strong finish over 2 other solid relay teams from William Peace and UNC Wilmington.
The runners will next be competing on April 10 in the Trojan Relays also in Mount Olive.