MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - With the USA South Conference Championship meet just four days away the Battling Bishops women's track and field 4x100 meter relay went down the road to the University of Mount Olive for their first relay action of the season.
The 4x100 meter relay team of freshman Assata Sirleaf, junior Teanna Bellamy, senior Bijou Patel and freshman Mariah Brooks ran a Conference-leading time of 50.41.
Brooks ran two rounds of the 100 meter dash making the finals as the only Division 3 athlete to qualify for the finals. Brooks placed 3rd overall in a time of 12.2 seconds
"I think our women's 4x100m team did exceptionally well with only being able to practice the relay twice, they have much more room for improvement," commented Coach Dunn.
"Mariah could have ran so much faster as we have been working on her aggression out of the blocks which caused her to stumble a bit. But she recovered enough to still manage to take third overall in the meet."
"Our women are fired up going into conference," continued Dunn. "After they saw what they are ranked to finish they aim to prove that they are a better team than the conference poll that was put out."
On the men's side, senior Keyonte Williams was the lone Bishop as Coach Dunn decided to rest the other members of the men's team. Keyonte did not disappoint as he ran a personal and school record of 58.68 in the 400 meter hurdles.
"Key has been working hard in practice, our team knew it was only a matter of time before he had his breakthrough," commented Coach Dunn. "Besting your previous time by 3 seconds is a big jump and shows he is primed up and ready to go for conference."
The men's and women's teams will next compete at the conference championships on April 20-21 in Berea, Kentucky.