PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - The saying "It's always sunny in Philadelphia" held true Friday afternoon as the Wilmington University Track & Field Team competed under sunny conditions at the Temple Invitational hosted by Temple University.
Tyler Levons ran away with two more school records to add to his resume. Levons took home the 100-meter dash school record previously held by Taf Bunu, with a blistering time of 10.67 seconds. Levons also surpassed Matthew Hibbert's school record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.69 seconds. Levons finished in third place in both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash at the Temple Invitational.
Matthew Hibbert bested his collegiate 100-meter dash time, clocking in under 11 seconds for his first time this season at 10.85 seconds. Hibbert also topped his 200-meter time for the season with a final time of 22.34 seconds. Hibbert finished in sixth place in both of these events.
Shemar Parker also runs his best time on the year in the 100-meter dash improving his time from 11.79 seconds to 11.48 seconds. Alex Varona rounded out the 100-meter dash for the Wildcats finishing with a time of 11.83 seconds.
Bradley Spencer is now the school record holder in the 110 high hurdle event in his first appearance in the event on the year. He finished third overall in the event with a time of 16.34 seconds.
Matt Gonzalez ran his fasted time of his career in the 1,500-meter race in a dense field. Gonzalez broke his school record in the event by a second, with a time of 4:03.37. Gonzalez finished in eighth overall and seventh collegiately out of 32 total runners.
Michael Dowd improved on his 800-meter run time on the season crossing the line at 2:01.84. Logan Strouse was only seconds behind with a final time of 2:03.67.
Josh Varghese was the lone thrower for the Wildcats in the lone throwing event this afternoon. He took home first place in the men's shot-put event with a season-best distance of 13.49 meters.
Akeel Blake continued his dominance in the jumping events. He finished first overall in both the high jump and long jump. Blake again leaped beyond the seven-meter mark, with his best distance being 7.11 meters. Blake cleared the bar at 1.95 meters in the high jump. Shemar Parker wasn't far behind as he cleared the bar at 1.85 meters, which put him in third place.
Women
Layla Hunt improves on her 400-meter hurdle time by a little over two seconds. Hunt took second place in the event with a time of 1:08.74. Hunt is .55 of a second off of the school record time in the 400-meter hurdles of 1:08.12 set by Dyonne Hicks back in 2019. Hunt also improves on her 100-meter hurdle time by beating her school record in the event, with a time of 15.90 seconds. This is Hunt's first time going under 16 seconds on the season.
Heading over to the jumps, Angel Oliver and Jalah Turner both cleared past the four-meter mark. Turner finished with a best distance of 4.14 meters and Oliver's best distance was 4.02 meters. Oliver also cleared the bar at 1.41-meters in the high jump.
Jalah Turner improved on her season best in the 200-meter dash. Turner finished with a time of 27.90 seconds.
Up Next
The Wildcats have a quick turnaround they head up to West Chester University to partake in the Golden Ram Invitational. The first events are set to begin at 9:30 AM with the Javelin (Men followed by Women), the Shot Put (Men followed by Women), and the Discus (Women followed by Men).