Greenville, SC - The Conference Carolinas women's outdoor track & field head coaches picked the University of Mount Olive to win an 11th consecutive and 13th overall conference championship in the 2025 preseason poll released on Thursday.

The Trojans collected 156 points and 12-of-13 first-place votes (coaches can vote for own team) to edge Converse University's 145 points and final first-place vote.  The University of Mount Olive Trojans finished last season by claiming the 2024 Outdoor Track and Field Championship title for Conference Carolinas for the eleventh consecutive season.  The Trojans will return sprinter Channie Jefferson.  The Valkyries out of Spartanburg, SC finished last season in second place at the Conference Carolinas Championship.

UNC Pembroke who received 125 points was picked third, followed closely by North Greenville University's 121 points in fourth. Belmont Abbey College rounded out the top five with 116 points.

Lees-McRae College earned 95 points to take the sixth spot and was followed by Shorter University (77), King University (74), Barton College (70), Southern Wesleyan University (60), Emmanuel University (55), Erskine College (38), Young Harris College (31) and Francis Marion University (20).

Southern Wesleyan took seventh place at the Conference Carolinas Outdoor Track and Field Championship last season.  Senior TraVon Lay, who took third team honors last year in the 100 meter hurdles, will look to build off of that.  Joining her as players to watch are distance runners Merritt Smith and Kristi Gallagher. 

The Warriors kicked off the outdoor season on March 1 as they hosted the Susan Rouse Invitational.  They competed at Columbia International on March 7-8, and will look to compete at the Montreat College Open on March 21-22.  Southern Wesleyan will host their second meet of the 2025 season on March 28-29 as they welcome in many teams to compete in the Gotta Run Invitational.  The 2025 Conference Carolinas Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held on April 24-26 at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.