ORLANDO, Fla. - The NC Wesleyan College women's cross country team finished 13th out of 16 teams at the 23rd annual 5K Disney Classic at the Wide World of Sports Complex on Saturday.
The women raced in a race called the Ursula Division that was loaded with talented D1, D2, and D3 teams. The women finished 13th out of 16 teams, and they left the course with setting a new NCWC Cross Country 5k record running time by freshman Cedara Franklin who ran a 22:06 to place 69th overall while fellow freshman Snejana Spinache finished a minute behind her in 87th in 23:10. Junior Hayley Sheehan then came next in 95th and third on the team in 23:55 while freshman Teanna Bellamy was right behind her in 96th in 24:02. Wrapping up the scoring was freshman Toni Foster placing 125th in 25:57. Her freshman teammate Sinia Ashe-Lee then finished right after Foster in 26:00 flat.
Sophomore Alyssa Donaldson also competed and ran a time of 29:37 with sophomore Michelle Sackey-Ansah finishing up in 30:31.
"The women have continued to improve this season and they improved their season times today. Last season at this race we finished in last place, and it was great to leave the meet beating some solid teams. They are seeing improvement and want to keep enjoying the feeling of accomplishment. They have a bright future and we want to keep pushing for faster times. This group is setting the foundation for a program that will be pushing for conference championships annually.
Wesleyan's next meet will be racing against mostly D1 teams with one other D3 team in Methodist at the ECU Invitational next Friday. "To go to this meet you have to be invited, and it is an honor to be one of the teams competing against the likes of ECU, Duke, and NC State. It gives us a chance to compete against some ACC schools and see how we stack up."