COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - - Competing in its second meet in its inaugural season, the Wilmington University track and field team had a number of top five finishers, led by the distance runners, at the Ursinus College Invitational on Saturday.
A pair of second place finishers led the men's team while a total of six different Wildcats collected a top five finish. The women's team also had a pair of fourth place finishes on Saturday.
On the women's side, freshman runner Grace Slate was one of those fourth place finishers for the Wildcats, running the 800-meter event in 2:34.88. She was only a half second behind the third place finisher and just 1.18 seconds from second place. Krysta Memis finished 12th in the event in 2:40.54 while Gabby Brown was 14th in 2:42.18.
In the field events, the Wildcats were led by Dyonne Hicks' fourth place finish in the triple jump. Hicks was fourth after her preliminary jump of 10.61 meters and then produced a jump of 10.32 meters (33'10.25'') in the finals for a fourth place finish. Middlesex CC's Katy Pacheco won the event with a finals jump of 10.76 meters.
Rosemary Gillam finished sixth in the 5,000-meter event, finishing with a time of 21:14.28. Bianca Turner (pictured) finished 11th in the discus throw, finishing with a best throw of 26.21 meters (86 feet). She also placed 16th in the women's shot put event, landing her shot at 9.11 meters (29'10.75''), and ninth in the hammer throw with a distance of 29.24 meters (95'11'') to lead the throwers.
On the men's side, the Wildcats were led by second place finishes from Miguel Suero and Mark Corrigan.
Miguel Suero led a trio of Wildcats in the top 10 in the 1500-meter event, placing second overall with a time of 4:15.56, less than two seconds off the leader from Ursinus. James Kennedy was just behind Suero, finishing third overall in 4:17.35. Brandon Cruz was seventh overall, running the event in 4:24.11.
Mark Corrigan was the second fastest runner in the 5,000-meter event, finishing in 16:21.18. Corrigan was the fastest collegiate runner in the race, finishing behind Michael Durkin of Delaware Track Company who won with a time of 16:13.06.
Manuel Suero finished fourth in the 400-meter race, completing the one-lap event in 53:57 seconds. Manuel was also the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay team that finished second of 16 teams. The team of Miguel Suero, Johnathan Avila, James Kennedy, and Manuel Suero finished with a time of 3:38.40, trailing only Ursinus' time of 3:33.59.
The Wildcats' other relay team of James Keenan, Ellis McCharry, Andrew Henderson, and Kareem Lewis Ra finished third in the men's 4x100-meter race, completing one lap around the track in 46.41 seconds.
Robbie Stofa led the Wildcats in the throws events, placing sixth in the discus event with a toss of 34.76 meters (114 feet). He also finished 10th in the shot put, landing his throw at 11.56 meters (37'11.25'').