Press Release Written by Mitchell Coll

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - - The Wilmington University Track & Field Team took part in the Bill Butler Invitational hosted by West Chester University. The men's side finished fourth overall and the women's side finished ninth overall.

Men

The Wildcats finished in fifth place out of 13 teams with a total of 100 points. They saw first place finishes by Matthew Hibbert (100 meters and 200-meter dash), Michael Dowd in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (collegiately), and Josh Varghese (Discus and Hammer Throw).

Michael Dowd and Josh Zuniga earned a combined 16 points in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Michael Dowd marked his name in the record books, with a school-record time of 10:11.80. Dowd bests James Kennedy's time of 10:18.82 set at the 2019 CACC Championships. Dowd finished second overall, first collegiately to earn 10 points. Zuniga ran a personal best time of 13:19.60, which finished him fifth overall and fourth collegiately.

Matt Gonzalez surpassed his record book time in the 1,500-meter event. Gonzalez ran a time of 4:02.64. Gonzalez finished in fourth place, out of 32 runners. Dan Wyshinski saw an improvement on his best time on the season by over seven seconds, with a final time of 4:09.19 and a seventh-place finish. Logan Strouse broke the 4:15-mark today, by crossing the line at 4:14.36.

Matthew Hibbert topped 36 other runners in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.17 seconds. Hibbert also finished on top in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.58 seconds, first out of 48 other sprinters.

James Keenan finished 11th in the 100-meter, with a final time of 11.71 seconds. Alex Varona finished in 19th with a time of 11.87 seconds.

Shemar Parker had a personal-best time in the 400-meter dash and a fourth-place finish time of 51.10 seconds.

Hayward Boutte Jr. was the lone Wildcat in the 5,000-meter race. Boutte Jr. improves on his time by two seconds with a 17:02.64 finish, good for 13th best in the event.

Michael Dowd gained a point in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.58 seconds.

In the jumping events, Akeel Blake was able to clear the 1.95-meter bar, which landed him third overall. Blake finished second overall in the long jump, leaping 6.81 meters.

At the throwing pit, Josh Varghese tops the Hammer Throw for the second week in a row. Varghese finished with a best toss of 43.96 meters. Varghese also finished first in the Discus throw, with the best distance of 43.31 meters. Shemar Parker finished 11th in the discus throw and qualified for the CACC Championships in yet another event with the best distance of 32.90 meters. Mitchell Coll topped his school-record mark with a throw of 42.95 meters, good enough for a fourth-place finish. Varghese was also able to score points in the Javelin throw with a seventh-place finish of 33.99 meters.

The 4x100 meter relay team consisting of James Keenan, Matthew Hibbert, Alex Varona, and Akeel Blake scored 8 points with a second-place finish of 43.04 seconds.

Women 

The Wilmington University Women's Track & Field Team finished 9th overall, scoring 21 total points. Layla Hunt had the lone first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles.

In the 100-meter dash, the Wildcats saw two athletes in Jalah Turner and Lina Boussif take on the event for the first this season. Turner finished 14th out of 30, crossing the line at 13.82 seconds. Turner also rounded the corner in the 200-meter dash, finishing with a time of 28.28 seconds. Boussif finished in 20th with a time of 14.14 seconds.

Layla Hunt finished on top in the 100-meter hurdles, crossing the line at 16.23 seconds. Hunt finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:10.24, bringing her point total to 14 points for the team. Boussif earned two points in the 400-meter hurdle race as well, with a time of 1:17.62.

On the jumping side, Layla Hunt qualifies for another event for the CACC Championships in the long jump. Hunt finished in 10th place with a leap of 4.83 meters. Angel Oliver had her best jump of 4.35 meters and Jalah Turner finished with her best distance of 4.10 meters.

The 4x100 meter relay team of Layla Hunt, Jalah Turner, Lina Boussif, and Kharonay Brown scored five points with a fourth-place finish, crossing the line in 53.41 seconds.

Up Next

The Wildcats have another schedule change to take note of. Next Saturday, April 23 the Wildcats will head to East Stroudsburg University to compete in the All-American Meet. The schedule of events will be posted on ESU's athletics site later in the week.