VILLANOVA, Pa. - Senior distance runner Patrick Tiernan (Toowoomba, Australia) and the Villanova distance medley relay team were selected to the field for the NCAA Championships in an announcement made on Monday evening. This is the ninth consecutive year that the Wildcats will send a DMR team to the national indoor meet, while Tiernan is an individual qualifier for the championships in the 3000 meters. The 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held in Birmingham, Ala. on March 11-12.

Tiernan owns the second-fastest time nationwide in the 3000 meters this season. That performance came at the FastTrack National Invite on February 12 when he registered a time of 7:48.55 at Ocean Breeze Track & Field Athletic Complex in Staten Island. That mark was the best in the nation at the time of the race and was the second-fastest 3000 meters in Villanova history. Tiernan lowered his personal best by more than nine seconds and approached the school record of 7:47.50 which has stood for over a decade.

At the BIG EAST Championships last week, Tiernan was named the Most Outstanding Track Performer after winning individual titles in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters. He won his third straight indoor conference title in the 5000 and became the Wildcats eighth athlete to win the same indoor event at least three times. Tiernan also became the first Villanova male runner to win both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters in the same year at the BIG EAST meet. His efforts helped the Wildcats capture their third straight team title with a record-breaking team score of 208 points.

The first day of the BIG EAST Championships featured a classic head-to-head matchup between Villanova and Georgetown in the distance medley relay. With both a conference title and an NCAA bid at stake, the Wildcats finished as close runners-up with a time of 9:29.17. That is the fourth-fastest indoor DMR in school history and solidified Villanova's spot in the national meet. The team's previous time of 9:30.66 at the FastTrack National Invite on February 12 ââ'¬" which ranks seventh on Villanova's indoor DMR list ââ'¬" would likely have left the Wildcats on the outside of the NCAA field.

Seniors Jordy Williamsz (Melbourne, Australia) and Rob Denault (Aurora, Ont.) bookended the Villanova lineup in the DMR at the BIG EAST Championships, with Williamsz taking the opening 1200 meters and Denault closing with the 1600 meter anchor leg. They have run in those positions before, including in both of the Wildcats earlier two DMR races this season as well as last year when Villanova set an indoor school record with a time of 9:27.04. Williamsz is also a two-time All-American in the DMR, having led off at the 2013 NCAA Championships in addition to anchoring last year.

The middle two legs of the DMR at the BIG EAST meet included freshman Harry Purcell (Dublin, Ireland) on the 400 meters and junior Ben Malone (River Vale, N.J.) on the 800 meters. Purcell earned All-BIG EAST honors as part of the Wildcats lineup in both the DMR and the 4x400 meter relay, in addition to individually in the 400 meters. Malone anchored Villanova in the DMR at the Penn State National earlier this season and has individual NCAA experience from last year's outdoor preliminary meet.

The national championship race in the DMR will take place on Friday, March 11 at 8:45 p.m. The final of the 3000 meters is on Saturday, March 12 at 6:10 p.m.