Press Release written by Mitchell Coll

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - - The Wilmington University men's track & field team claims its first-ever Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship in program history Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats outlasted the defending champions, Georgian Court, by 10 points to score 184 total points, the most ever by a Wildcat team at the CACC Championships.

The Wildcat's 184 points came from the team scoring in every event. The meet came down to the final event, the 4x400 meter relay, but the Wildcats stamped the CACC Championship with a second-place finish to round out the weekend.

The championship meet started on Saturday, mostly with prelims and some finals. Akeel Blake secured his second consecutive CACC long jump title with a 7.25-meter winning jump. Blake on Saturday also secured second place in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.95 meters.

The two throwing events on Saturday were the javelin and hammer throw. Shemar Parker and Josh Varghese both scored points in the javelin throw. Varghese also had a podium finish in the hammer throw with a toss of 46.26 meters, finishing third overall.

Trent Taylor rounded out the track events on Saturday in the 10,000-meter run with a second-place finish of 33:49.16. Hayward Boutte Jr. earned a vital point with an eighth-place finish as well.

Heading into Sunday, the Wildcats trailed Georgian Court by 15 points. However, the Wildcats quickly got to work in the 100-meter dash. Taf Bunu and Matt Hibbert went 3rd and fourth in the finals of the 100-meter dash. Bunu finished with a time of 10.97 seconds, and Hibbert finished with a time of 11.01 seconds.

Matthew Hibbert then finished third overall in the 200-meter dash with 22.16 seconds, and Tyler Levons finished in fourth with a 22.19 second time.

Tyler Levons broke a school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.73 seconds. Matthew Hibbert also scored in the event with a time of 50.65 seconds.

Raymon Gonzalez scored four points in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.46.

Dan Wyshinski finished second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:02.098. Raymon Gonzalez finished in 6th with a time of 4:07.79.

In the 5,000-meter run, the Wildcats went second and third. Trent Taylor finished second with a time of 15:44.74 and Wyshinski with a time of 15:47.97.

Mike Dowd scored six points in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:22.20.

In the hurdle events, Shemar Parker left it all out on the track in the 400-meter hurdles with a new CACC Championship record. Parker finished with an impressive time of 53.38 seconds. Bradley Spencer finished fourth overall with 57.61 seconds, and Mike Dowd finished seventh overall (1:00.84).

Spencer and Parker went third and fourth in the 110-meter hurdles, scoring eight points in the event.

The relay teams in the 4x100 and 4x400 finished in second place overall.

Josh Varghese goes back-to-back in the discus throw as he wins the event for the second consecutive year. Varghese finished with a winning toss of 44.60 meters. Christian Dollard finished with a point with a toss of 34.57 meters. Varghese also finished fourth in the shot put throw.

The Wildcats defeated Georgian Court who won the previous three CACC Championships. The Lions finished with 174 points for second overall while Holy Family finished third overall with 135 points.

First and second place finishers earned All-CACC honors for the season.

Up Next:

The Wildcats will wrap up their historic season next week in Mount Olive, North Carolina for a last chance meet to hit NCAA provisional marks.