Jan. 18, 2008

Freshmen Jason Apwah (Roxbury, N.J.) and Carl Mackenzie (Lower Hutt, New Zealand) each won their events and Villanova had six different individuals qualify for the BIG EAST Championships on Friday at the NYC Gotham Cup held at the New York Armory. Apwah won the 1000 meter run and Mackenzie the 3000 meter run

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Three of the six Wildcat athletes to qualify for next month's league championships were freshmen, including the pair of race winners. Apwah crossed in 2:26.97 to lead four Villanova runners in the event. He cut better than four seconds off his time earlier this season at the Jack Pyrah Invitational. In the 3000 meters, Mackenzie finished with a time of 8:21.34 to win the race. His time in the event earlier this season had already qualified him for the BIG EAST meet.

A pair of runners qualified for the conference championships in the mile, including senior Michael Kerrigan (Stroudsburg, Pa.), who placed second in his race with a time of 4:11.64. Freshman Brian Tetreault (Cinnaminson, N.J.) finished in 4:18.78, coming in 10th and qualifying for the BIG EAST Championships.

Two other athletes qualified for the league meet in running events. Freshman Christopher Giunta (Exton, Pa.) ran the 400 meters in 49.44 to rate seventh out of 65 runners. In the 5000 meters, sophomore Bobby Papazian (Pittstown, N.J.) finished second out of 15 competitors with a time of 14:41.21.

The one Wildcat to qualify for the conference meet in a field event was sophomore Shane Loh (Stratham, N.H.). Loh recorded a leap of 1.96 meters in the high jump to better a mark from earlier in the season.

A complete list of Villanova results appears below.

All Villanova Results