Press Release written by Mitchell Coll

TOWSON, Md. - - The Wilmington University Track & Field Team was running all around this weekend, being in two places at once. The sprinters, jumpers, hurdlers, and throwers competed at the Townson Invitational in Towson, Maryland. The distance grew competed at the Danny Curran Invitational hosted by Widener University in Chester, PA.

Day 1

Shemar Parker and Bradley Spencer kicked off the weekend for the team in the always challenging 400-meter hurdle race. Parker improved on his school-record time from 58.13 seconds to 57.10 seconds at the Towson Invitational. Parker finished eighth overall in the event. Spencer also improved on his 400-meter hurdle time, running under a minute for the first time as a Wildcat. Spencer crossed the line at 59.52 seconds.

On the women's side, both Layla Hunt and Kharonay Brown both competed in the 400-meter hurdles event. Hunt again ran in the one-minute and eleven-second range, with a finishing time of 1:11.63. Brown was just two seconds off of the qualifying time in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:19.91.

Tyler Levons continues to become faster each week in the sprint events. In the prelims of the 100-meter dash, Levons bolted to the finish line in 10.81 seconds. Levons's 10.81 seconds currently puts him at the top of the CACC and is .01 seconds off of the school record set by Taf Bunu in the 2021 CACC Championships.

Matthew Hibbert also saw his best time of the 2022 season in the 100-meter dash by sprinting across the line at 11.04 seconds. Alex Varona also improved on his colligate best time by over a tenth of a second, finishing with a time of 11.67 seconds.

Josh Zuniga competed in his first 1,500-meter race of the season. After four laps he crossed the line at 5:20.71.

At the Danny Curran Invitational, the distance crew competed in the 5,000 meters and 10,000-meter runs, under the lights in Chester, Pennsylvania. Matt Gonzalez turned in the best time for the Wildcats in the 5,000-meter run on the night and the season. Gonzalez finished with a time of 16:04.50, which finished him in 38th out of 78 runners. Logan Strouse came in next for the Wildcats with a time of 16:27.60. Michael Dowd improved his 5k time by roughly 25 seconds, with a time of 16:47.54. Gonzalez, Strouse, and Dowd all qualified for the CACC Championships in May.

Dan Wyshinski completed his first 10,000-meter race of the year, which is equivalent to running over 6 miles in 33:29.34 minutes. Wyshinski's time put him at 19th overall out of 33 runners. Hayward Boutte, Jr. also ran the 10,000-meter run finished with another impressive time of 35:52.07. Wyshinski's and Boutte Jr.'s times both meet the qualifying times for the CACC Championships.

Day 2

The second day started on the javelin runway where Shemar Parker turned in an impressive toss of 41.43 meters, showcasing his ability to do a little bit of everything. Mitchell Coll increased his best by a whole six centimeters with a best throw of 41.54 meters.

Akeel Blake's official long jump mark was centimeters away from becoming the first provisional qualifier in program history. Blake leaped to a staggering 7.23-meter-long jump. The NCAA provisional mark sits at 7.26 meters. Blake finished first in the event out of 29 other jumpers. Blake surpassed his season-best by 30 centimeters. Blake also placed for tied-fifth in the high jump by clearing the bar at 1.95 meters.

Angel Oliver booked her trip to the CACC Championships in May by jumping over the qualifying mark of 1.41 meters. Oliver was able to leap over the bar at 1.45 meters in the high jump event.

Kharonay Brown and Jalah Turner also qualified for the CACC Championships for the first time this Saturday afternoon in the 400-meter dash. Brown finished with a season-best in the event with a time of 1:02.62. Turner also turned in a season-best, crossing the line at 1:03.61.

Josh Zuniga saw a personal best of over nine seconds in the 800-meter run. He finished with a time of 2:24.48.

Tyler Levons improves on his 200-meter time by .33 of a second. Levons finished a team-best ninth in the 200-meter dash, with an official time of 22.05 seconds. Matthew Hibbert was right behind him with a time of 23.18 seconds. Alex Varona finished with a time of 24.17 seconds.

Over at the Danny Curran Invitational Matt Gonzalez, Logan Strouse and Michael Dowd ran one event on the day in the 1,500-meter race. Gonzalez ran the fastest team time by crossing the line at 4:06.55, which took 10th place overall. Strouse tied his season-best exactly, down to even the tenth of a second, with a time of 4:15.76. Dowd topped his season-best by 10 seconds, finishing with a time of 4:18.00.

Up Next

The Wildcats look ahead to another busy week with two separate meets back-to-back. They first head to North Philadelphia to take part in the Temple Invitational hosted by Temple University on Friday, April 8. Then on Saturday, they travel to West Chester University to compete in the Golden Ram Invitational on Saturday, April 9.