LAKEWOOD, N.J. - - Anchored by its first two conference champions, the Wilmington University men's track and field team finished third overall at the 2021 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championships on Friday on the campus of Georgian Court University.
The end of the day provided the final push for the Wildcats to jump Goldey-Beacom and into third place, as the 4x400 relay team came from behind to pass the Lightning and finish fourth and then Josh Varghese cemented the bronze team finish by winning the hammer throw, giving the Wildcats 77 points. Goldey-Beacom finished with 73.50.
The beginning of the CACC Championships were just as exciting as Daniel Wyshinski busted out of the gates with a second-place finish in the 10,000-meter event. He led for the majority of the race, but was eventually outkicked down the stretch, finishing in 35:24.36 to give the Wildcats eighth points.
At the same time, Mitchell was behind the track throwing the javelin, finishing the finals heat in sixth place with a toss of 40.51 meters, adding three points to the Wildcats total.
One of the premier events of any track event is the 4x100 meter relay race, and the Wildcats proved the worth as a young program, winning the event with a new school record. James Keenan started it off, passing the baton to Matthew Hibbert. Hibbert handed it off to Tyler Levons before Tafadziswa Bunu (pictured left) finished off the race with a time of 42.41 seconds. It was the first CACC event championship in Wilmington track & field program history.
Devin Valenzuela gave the Wildcats one point with an eighth-place finish in the 1,500-meter event, crossing the line in 4:19.54.
Another prime event at a track meet is the 100-meter sprint, and once again the Wildcats gained valuable points. Tafadziswa Bunu finished second overall with a new school record 10.80 race for eight points. Right behind him was teammate Matthew Hibbert who crossed the line in 10.88 seconds for third overall and six more points.
The duo of Tafadziswa Bunu and Matthew Hibbert were at it again in the 200-meter event, as Bunu finished second overall with a time of 21.99 for eight points and Hibbert finished fifth overall with a time of 22.54 for four points.
Then came the 4x400-meter relay where the Wildcats were Hibbert, Valenzuela, Keenan, and Bunu held off Goldey-Beacom for fourth place in a time of 3:34.05.
Across campus at the throws pits, Joshua Varghese (pictured right) was busy medaling in all three throw events all afternoon. His day started with a third-place finish in the discus, setting a new school record with his second throw of the finals, 46.59 meters. He then stepped up and set another school record in the shot put, finishing second overall with a toss of 14.18 meters. He then capped the third-place team finish with his school record hammer toss of 47.92 meters, finally holding off Georgian Court's Ryan Roger who won both the discus and the shot put.
Georgian Court won their second straight CACC Championship with 262 points while Bloomfield finished second overall with 112 points. Following Wilmington's 77 points was Goldey-Beacom in fourth with 73.50 points and Holy Family in fifth with 64 points.
AGATE
2021 CACC Men's Track & Field Championships
- Georgian Court – 262 points
- Bloomfield – 112 points
- Wilmington – 77 points
- Goldey-Beacom – 73.50 points
- Holy Family – 64 points
- Jefferson – 58.50 points
- Caldwell – 25 points
- Dominican – 23 points
- Post – 15 points
- Chestnut Hill – 10 points
- USciences – 9 points
- Nyack – 6 points
