BEREA, KY - The NC Wesleyan College men's track & field team finished in 6th place out of 10 teams at the two-day USA South Conference Meet at Berea College in Kentucky. 

Wesleyan totaled 34 points while Piedmont College finished first and Methodist took second. 

In the field events, senior Francisco Rodriguez finished 12th in the Javelin Throw with a mark of 28.7 meters. Senior teammate TJ McFadden then finished 7th out of 14 in the Shot Put with a mark of 10.8 meters to earn two points. Senior Jeff Black, in his first meet since the conclusion of his football season, then placed 8th out of 19 in the Long jump with a mark of 5.9 meters to earn a team point.

Junior Keyonte Williams then made his and the school's debut in the Pole Vault by placing 5th with a mark of 2.6 meters to earn 4 team points. Williams would also record the best finish by any Bishop placing 2nd out of 12 in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 59.7 seconds beating his prelim time by two seconds.

Then, in the relays, Wesleyan finished 6th out of 7 in the 4x400 with a time of 3:37 as they just missed the top 3 by 6 seconds. Competing in the 400 relay was juniors Maleik Small, Joseph Turner, Terenthen Parker, and senior Blaise Gourley with the latter two running times of 55 and 54 seconds in their segments of the race. Small also finished 12th out of 22 in the 400 meter dash with a time of 53.6 seconds.

Black then had a good finish in the 100 meter dash as well. He first placed 6th in the prelims with a time of 11.14 seconds to qualify for the finals where he then finished 5th out of 8 with a time of 11.2 seconds after leading over the first 50 meters.

Wesleyan also finished third in the 4x100 relay for 6 team points running a time of 45.4 seconds to finish just 2.4 seconds behind the winners from Piedmont. Competing in the 100 relay were seniors Gourley, Black, Rodriguez, and Luis Ross.

Then, in the 3000 meter steeplechase, Wesleyan was led by freshman Chris Sielkowski and his 5th place finish with a time of 11:25 as he averaged around 1:30 for each of the 8 events. Parker then finished two spots behind him in 7th with a time of 12:18 as they combined for 6 team points. Sielkowski also finished 18th in the 5K with a time of 17:35 while Parker placed 17th as well in the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:34.

"The men did a great job going into the championships with a mentality that they wanted to make a splash in the championships," commented Coach Marshall Leonard.  "This is the first full year we are running a club team and we scored points from all over the track."

"In Track & field we have 20 different events and each one needs to be trained differently.  We scored points in the shot put, pole vault, long jump, relays, sprints, and hurdles," said Leonard. "I am very proud of what they have been able to do. Keyonte Williams walked away a conference Runner-Up in the 400 meter hurdles (pictured below), and this is a new event to him as he is a member of the men's cross country team.  I am very excited about what we can do in the future."