Press Release Written by Mitchell Coll
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - Matt Gonzalez continued to top his pace this week, earning him Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Co-Track Rookie of the Week. The Wilmington University track and field team competed in two events last week on back-to-back days. On Friday the Wildcats were in Philadelphia competing in the Temple Invitational while they participated in the Golden Ram Invitational hosted by West Chester University on Saturday.
Gonzalez started his weekend in the 1,500-meter race. In four laps around the track, Gonzalez finished with a time of 4:03.37. Gonzalez finished the race eighth overall and seventh collegiately. Gonzalez broke his school record in the event, which he previously set at 4:04.25 at the 2022 Danny Curran Invite. On Saturday Gonzalez finished first in the 800-meter run. His time of 1:59.98 was a season-time and a little over a second shy of the school-record time of 1:58.31 set by Manuel Suero at the 2019 Delaware Open.
The Wildcats had four athletes on the CACC Weekly Honor Roll: Tyler Levons, Akeel Blake, Josh Varghese, and Layla Hunt. Levons's broke two school records on Friday, at the Temple Invitational in the 100-meter dash (10.67 seconds) and the 200-meter run (21.69 seconds). Akeel Blake captured three-first place finishes, two at the Temple Invitational (long jump & high jump), and won the high jump at the Golden Ram Invitational. Josh Varghese won the shot-put event at the Temple Invitational and the won the Hammer Throw at the Golden Ram Invitational. Layla Hunt finished second in the 400-meter hurdle event at the Temple Invitational and a first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the Golden Ram Invitational.
The Wildcats head back to West Chester University this Saturday, April 16th to compete in the Bill Butler Invitational. Look for the event schedule to come up later this week, which can be found on West Chester's Athletic site.