Press Release Written by Mitchell Coll

BALTIMORE, Md. - - The Wilmington University Track & Field Team again battled rainy conditions as part of the meet was canceled due to thunderstorms, but only after most of the events at the Johns Hopkins/Loyola Invitational occurred.

Friday:

The only event on the day for a sunny Friday for the Wildcats was the hammer throw. The Wildcats saw one finalist in Josh Varghese in a tough field of competition. Varghese placed seventh overall in the event with a toss of 42.59 meters.

Saturday:

Winners & Finalist

Taf Bunu placed in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.84 seconds (2.1 m/s). Bunu placed fourth overall out of 60 sprinters. 

In the 100-meter hurdles, Layla Hunt had a season-best time of 15.83 seconds. Hunt finished 6th overall out of 18 hurdlers. Bradley Spencer finished third out of 12 participants on the men's side with a 15.58-second finishing time.

The same story for Akeel Blake this weekend as he tops the long jump field yet again. Blake soared to 7.14 meters in the long jump with a 1.5 meters per second headwind. Blake was the best out of 40 total jumpers.

The Wildcats finished first in the men's 4x100-meter relay race. Matthew Hibbert started in the blocks for the Wildcats, he then handed the baton off to Bradley Spencer, and rounding the final turn was Shemar Parker, who then gave the baton to the anchor Taf Bunu. They finished with a first-place time of 42.33 seconds.

In the women's 4x100 meter relay, Jalah Turner led off for the group, who handed it off to Kharonay Brown, in the third spot was Layla Brown, and anchoring was Temi Mustapha. Mustapha could out-kick three sprinters in the final leg to push the Wildcats to an eighth-place finish.

Seasonal Bests & Personal Records

There were three personal best times in the 400-meter run today, one on the women's and two on the men's sides. Jalah Turner had a personal record in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:02.64. Turner finished 15th overall out of 32 runners. Matthew Hibbert ran a 50.66-second time, and Juan Fountain ran a 51.47-second time. All three men qualified for the CACC Championships in the event.

Sammy Banning had a personal best time in the 1,500-meter run. Banning had a time of 5:32.65.

Tiffany Banning and Alexa Crowell finished in the top third of the 5,000-meter run with personal best times. Banning finished with a time of 18:51.93 and Crowell with a time of 18:57.74. There were three personal best times on the men's side of the 5,000-meter run. Daniel Wyshinski finished with a time of 15:34.82. Trent Taylor finished with a time of 15:36.85, and Jared Cushlanis had a personal best time of 17:56.77.

Layla Hunt rounded out the seasonal bests in the long jump with a best leap of 4.74 meters.

Up Next:

Akeel Blake will be the lone individual athlete next week competing in the historic Penn Relays on Friday, April 28, at Franklin Field at the University of Penn. A select few members will compete in the relay races, with more details to follow later in the week.