ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College men's and women's cross country teams opened their season on Saturday by hosting a cold and wet NCW XC 5K Classic.

The Lady Bishops were led by sophomore Kelsey Hutchison who placed 16th in 23:26. She was followed by Alyssa Donaldson in 24th place with a time of 30:14 while freshman Sarah Waters then came in 25th in 30:53.

"We are excited to get back to racing, as we have not raced since the middle of November 2019, which was at the NCAA Regional Championships," said head coach Marshall Leonard. "Today we had to knock off some rust and get back into the competitive mindset. The course was extremely wet from the constant rain over the past 2 weeks, which created a situation where the athletes were running in mud and large puddles.  It was definitely one for the record books."

Div. II West Liberty (WV) won the women's meet as well with Div. I UNC-Wilmington finishing second. Those were the only two schools that scored as Methodist, Averett, Peace, Pfeiffer and the Bishops did not have the required 5 runners to qualify for a score. 

Hannah Kemp of West Liberty won the 5K race in 19:22.

The Wesleyan cross country teams will next compete on the road next weekend at 11 AM in Staunton, VA at Mary Baldwin University.