SALISBURY, N.C. - On Saturday the Men's and Women's cross country teams traveled to the Fleet Feet Invitational to compete against D2 and D3 teams.
The men raced first against nine other teamsin the 8K, and early on they looked great.
"We talked extensively about how to race today, and what we wanted out of today's performance," said Coach Leonard. "Each individual had something they needed to do to make their performance better. "
The women raced after the men and finished 5th out of 10 teams in the 5K.
The Lady Bishops finished by beating 3 conference opponents (Meredith, Averett, and Salem) that were pre-ranked higher in the USA South conference poll. The team was led by freshman Cedara Franklin who finished in 25th place out of 87 runners in 23:10, followed by freshman Snejana Spinache in 30th place (23:41), junior Hayley Sheehan in 42nd place (25:01), freshman Teanna Bellamy in 45th ( 25:35), and freshman Sinai Ashe-Lee in 53rd (Personal best of 27:10). Those females were the team scores and the score was close between Wesleyan and Meredith College. Other Lady Bishops running well were sophomore Alyssa Donaldson in 61st place with a time of 28:41, freshman Faith Kemboi in 64th in 29:05, and sophomore Michelle Sackey-Ansah in 31:58.
Snajana passed 1 Meredith and 2 other female racers to help the Bishops beat Meredith by 2 points.
"We are progressively getting better like we want to do," said Coach Leonard. "Every meet we need to continue to improve on a variety of areas, and hope to run our peak times at the end of the season."
The Wesleyan cross country teams are back in action in two weeks when they return home to host their first ever home meet: the USA South Preview tournament on the NCWC campus on Sept. 21. The races get underway at 9:00 AM.