Press Release Written by Mitchell Coll

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - - The Wilmington University Track & Field Team headed back to Pennsylvania to partake in the Golden Ram Invitational hosted by West Chester University. The men took home their second invitational win by scoring 166 total points. The women took fourth place with a total of 37 points.

Men

The Wilmington University Men's Track & Field team had a record-setting team performance with eight first-place finishes.

The throwers faced some wet and muddy conditions on the runway and in the circle but showed they were not afraid to get a little dirty. The Wilmington Throws were able to rack up 41 points in the four throwing events. They were led by Josh Varghese who went first in the hammer throw (46.55 meters), second in the shot put (13.13 meters), and third in the discus (37.84 meters). Shemar Parker took third in the javelin throw (40.84 meters) and Mitchell Coll took fourth (40.59 meters). Coll also took fifth in the hammer throw (27.15 meters) and James Keenan took seventh (22.65 meters).

Continuing on the field side, Shemar Parker adds another school record to his name in the pole vault, becoming the first-ever Wildcat to clear over the four-meter mark. Parker finished in second by clearing the bar at 4.05 meters.

Due to water conditions in the jumping pits, unfortunately, the long and triple jumps had to be canceled. The lone jumping event was the high jump, where Akeel Blake took home another victory with a first-place jump of 1.93 meters.

The 4x400 relay team consisting of Matthew Hibbert, Akeel Blake, Mike Dowd, and Shemar Parker ran the fastest time of the season with a second-place finish of 3:29.35.

Mike Dowd finished first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and improved on his season-best time, crossing the line at 10:24.25. Josh Zuniga finished in fourth place with a time of 13:37.44.

Bradley Spencer (16.62 seconds), Shemar Parker (17.05 seconds), and Mike Dowd (17.27 seconds) go 1, 2, 3 in the 110-meter hurdles. Dowd also becomes the third 400-meter hurdle to record a time under a minute, with a first-place finish time of 59.92 seconds.

Daniel Wyshinski is the first Wildcat to go under 16 minutes on the year in the 5,000-meter run. Wyshinski finishes in first place with a time of 15:55.10 and Hayward Boutte Jr. finished in third with a time of 17:04.45.

Logan Strouse finishes in first place in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:15.08, which is a season-best time.

Matt Gonzalez runs a season-best time in the 800-meter race and also takes a first-place finish with a time of 1:59.98.

Matthew Hibbert finishes second in the 200-meter run with a time of 22.78 seconds and third in the 100-meter dash, sprinting across the line at 11.28 seconds. James Keenan finished in 15th place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.73 seconds. Alex Varona finished 10th in the 400-meter run with a time of 56.12 seconds.

Women 

The Women's Track & Field Team finished in fourth place out of nine total schools at the Golden Ram Invitational. The Women's Team only consisted of three athletes Layla Hunt, Kharonay Brown, and Lina Boussif were able to score an impressive 37 points total.

Layla Hunt continued her strong showings in the hurdle events. Hunt finished on top in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.16 seconds. Hunt also finished second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:09.94.

Lina Boussif was the lone thrower on the day for the Women's team, as she competed in the hammer throw. Boussif improved his distance by two meters with a toss of 22.10 meters. Boussif also competed in the 5,000-meter race and finished second overall with a time of 22:31.69.

Kharonay Brown qualified for her second event for the CACC Championships in the 100-meter hurdles. Brown took third place with a time of 17.41 seconds. Brown also finished with the fourth-best time in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:03.39, earning the team five points.

Up Next

Keep your eyes posted on the schedule for this week's meet for the Wilmington Track & Field Team. A schedule change will be taken place as the team will no longer participate in the originally scheduled Greyhound Invitational. The decision on this week's invitational should be decided early on in the week, as soon as it does, the schedule will be updated.