Press Release Written by Mitchell Coll

SALISBURY, Md. - - The Wilmington University men's and women's track and field teams displayed a strong overall performance at their first meet of the 2023 campaign, as 21 student-athletes scored points at the 2023 Lloyd Sigler Spring Meet.

Women:

The Wilmington University women's track & field team enjoyed its highest team finish in its program's young history. Ten members of the team scored in today's meet. Viviana Caamano and Abigal Chomo are new school record holders. Freshman Freja Olofsson led the women in overall points.

The day started with the field events at 11:00 AM with the Women's Hammer Throw. Graduate student Viviana Caamano broke the school record in the Women's Hammer Throw set by Bianca Turner in 2019 in Wilmington's inaugural season. Caamano's best and record-setting throw came in her first of four throws in the circle, finishing with a third-best distance of 39.79 meters. In a sixth-place finish in the Women's Hammer Throw was Freshman Freja Olofsson. Olofsson's best toss with the hammer was 32.78 on her final throw. 

In the Women's Javelin Throw, three Wilmington throwers, Abigal Chomo, Viviana Caamano, and Freja Olofsson, finished second, third, and fourth in the competition. Freshman Abigal Chomo, in her first meet as a Wildcat, now owns the Wilmington University Javelin record, surpassing the distance of 23.01 meters set by Bianca Turner in 2019. Chomo threw a 27.96-meter toss, suitable for a second-place finish overall. Caamano's best was 23.18 for third overall, and Olofsson's best of 22.61 meters took home fourth overall. 

Layla Hunt was the lone jumper in the Women's Long Jump event. Hunt's best Jump was in her second attempt, which was good enough for two overall points and a seventh-place finish. Hunt leaped to 4.40 meters to start the year.

Temi Mustapha had a career-best day in the Women's Triple Jump—Mustapha with a last year's best of 9.84 meters, improved by 40 centimeters to start the season. Mustapha's best Jump of the day of 10.24 meters placed Mustapha in second place overall. 

Freshmen Freja Olofsson and Jade Obegi both scored in Shot Put and the Discus Throw. Olofsson led the way in the event, with her furthest toss coming in her second attempt. Olofsson finished fourth overall with a toss of 10.00 meters. Obegi finished in seventh place with her first throw of 9.40 meters. Olofsson threw a day's best of 34.12 meters in the final throwing event of the day, good for third place. Obegi finished in fourth overall with a day's best of 27.41 on her first throw. 

To the track, the 4x100 started the running events. Kharonay Brown, Jalah Turner, Layla Hunt, and Temi Mustapha start the 2023 campaign with a first-place victory. As the relay team ran together last season, they started the season with a 52.93 time. 

Freshman Tiffany Banning was roughly two seconds off the school record time in the 1,500-meter race set by Yailynn Ramirez in 2021—Banning's strong time of 5:05.02 placed her in second overall. Senior Alexa Crowell also placed in the event with a time of 5:24.22 for a fourth-place finish. 

In the 100-meter hurdles, both Layla Hunt and Kharonay Brown placed in the event. Hunt finished third in 16.61 seconds, while Brown finished fifth overall with a time of 17.81 seconds. Brown also finished second overall in the 400 Meter Dash with a time of 1:05.30.

Temi Mustapha was the lone Wildcat to receive points in the 100 Meter Dash—Mustapha's time of 12.71 seconds gave her a third-place finish. In the next event, the 800 Meter Run, Tiffany Banning finished third overall with a time of 2:32.29. 

A second-place finish for Layla Hunt took place in the 400 Meter Hurdles. Hunt did one lap around the track in 1:16.18. Mustapha and Jalah Turner scored points in the 200 Meter Dash. Mustapha finished in fifth with a time of 28.27, and Turner crossed the line at 29.15, good for seventh place. 

The final event of the day was the Women's 4x400 Meter Relay. Kharonay Brown, Jalah Turner, Layla Hunt, and Tiffany Banning finished second overall with a time of 4:42.17.

By the numbers:

Freja Olofsson: 21 points 
Layla Hunt: 20.5 points
Temi Mustapha: 18.5 points
Kharonay Brown: 16.5 points
Tiffany Banning: 16 points
Viviana Caamano: 12 points
Abigail Chomo: 8 points
Jada Obegi: 7 points 
Jalah Turner: 6.5 points
Alexa Crowell: 5 points
Total Points: 131 points

Men:

The Wilmington University men's track & field team finished third overall at the Lloyd Sigler Meet. Top performers for the Men's team included Tyler Levons and Shemar Parker, scoring 22.5 points each. 

The day started with the field events at 11:00 AM with the Men's Javelin Throw. Shemar Parker and Josh Varghese earned the team's first points on the day. Parker finished in fourth place with a toss of 44.97 meters. Varghese finished in seventh overall with a toss of 29.36 meters. 

Akeel Blake finished first overall in the Long Jump for the second year at the Lloyd Sigler Meet. Blake jumped a day's best of 7.16 meters, outjumping the second-place finisher by 79 centimeters. Parker finished in fourth place overall with a best jump of 6.17 meters. Blake also finished second in the High Jump, leaping over the bar at 1.90 meters. 

Varghese was the lone thrower in the other throwing events, the hammer throw, discus throw, and shot put. Varghese finished third overall in the Hammer Throw, tossing a best distance of 44.10 meters. Varghese's toss of 40.12 meters in the discus throw was good for fourth place overall. Varghese rounded out the throwing events in the shot put with a sixth-place finish of 11.92 meters,

Shemar Parker had a first-place finish in the Pole Vault, clearing the bar at 3.20 meters. Then, Mike Dowd opened up the running events with a first-place finish in the 3,000 Meter Steeplechase. Dowd finished the event in 10:55.18 to give the Wildcats 10 points. Next, the 4x100 meter relay team consisting of Juan Fountain, Jalen Bailey, Shemar Parker, and Tyler Levons took second place overall with a time of 43.61 seconds. 

The first distance event on the day of the 1,500-meter run produced two Wildcats who placed in the top eight overall. Daniel Wyshinski finished in second place overall with a time of 4:12.46. Raymon Gonzalez finished fifth overall with a time of 4:18.28.

In the 110-Meter Hurdles, Bradley Spencer and Jalen Bailey finished back-to-back in second and third place. Spencer finished second overall with a time of 15.89 seconds, and Bailey finished third overall with a time of 15.90 seconds. Spencer broke the one-minute mark in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.85 seconds for a first-place finish. Bailey finished fifth overall with a time of 1:05.30. 

Tyler Levons was in familiar territory, being at the top of the pack in the 100 Meter Dash as his 10.86 second time placed him first overall in the event. Juan Fountain finished in eighth place with an 11.59-second finish. Levons also finished first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.09 seconds, which was .04 seconds off of his collegiate best. Fountain finished in sixth with a time of 22.37 seconds. 

Raymon Gonzalez posted a first-place finish in the 800 Meter Run in a close race. Gonzalez was at the top of the field by .02 of a second, crossing the line at 2:01.54. 

Rounding out the distance races with the 5,000-meter run. With a dense field of over 26 runners, the Wildcats finished two in the top three of the event. Sophomore Trent Taylor finished second overall with a time of 15:57.70. Daniel Wyshinski was right behind Taylor with a time of 16:01.26 for third place. 

The events rounded out in the 4x400 meter relay. Akeel Blake, Juan Fountain, Shemar Parker, and Tyler Levons took first place by over 11 seconds with a time of 3:32.27

By the numbers:

Shemar Parker: 24.5 points
Tyler Levons: 24.5 points
Akeel Blake: 20.5 points
Bradley Spencer: 18 points
Josh Varghese: 16 points
Dan Wyshinski: 14 points 
Raymon Gonzalez: 14 points
Jalen Bailey: 12 points
Mike Dowd: 10 points
Juan Fountain: 8.5 points
Trent Taylor: 8 points

Total points: 170 points