JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Villanova had three runners in competition at the NCAA East Preliminary on Saturday night and all three punched tickets to the national championships in Oregon next month by advancing out of their respective heats at Hodges Stadium. Sophomore Ben Malone (River Vale, N.J.) and senior Jordy Williamsz (Melbourne, Australia) were each automatic qualifiers for the NCAA meet in the 1500 meters and senior Patrick Tiernan (Toowoomba, Australia) was an automatic qualifier in the 5000 meters.

This is the third straight year that Williamsz and Tiernan have been NCAA qualifiers in their respective events. Malone will be heading to the national meet for the first time after a strong race in the quarterfinal heats of the 1500 meters on Saturday evening. He ran in the second of two heats and placed fifth in his heat in 3:44.15 to grab the final automatic qualifying spot from that heat. The top five finishers in each heat and the next two fastest times advanced to next month's NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore.

Malone's time of 3:44.15 in Saturday's race is the second-fastest of his career, trailing only his personal best time of 3:43.28 which he registered in the national first round heats on Thursday evening. The second heat was the faster of the two on Saturday and Malone was part of a tight race, with the top seven finishers separated at the line by less than a second. Malone crossed the finish line four-hundredths of a second ahead of Craig Engels from Ole Miss to hang on to fifth place. Both of the "on-time" qualifiers for the NCAA Championships came out of Malone's heat.

Williamsz finished fourth in the first heat on Saturday with a time of 3:46.81 to earn his automatic qualifying spot. He had posted a time of 3:47.13 in the first round on Thursday and was ranked 21st overall out of the 24 qualifiers for the quarterfinal round. Williamsz went out strong in Saturday's race and positioned himself in the front pack with 800 meters to go. He was in third place at the start of the bell lap and finished comfortably among the leaders and just over a quarter of a second ahead of the sixth place runner in the heat.

The evening ended with Tiernan cruising into the national championships in the 5000 meters for the third consecutive season. He was the runner-up in the first of two semifinal heats with a time of 14:10.26 and was ranked fifth overall among the 12 qualifiers for the NCAA meet. As was the case with the 1500 meters, the top five finishers in each heat and the next two fastest times moved on to Eugene two weeks from now. The first five runners across the finish line in Tiernan's heat were separated by less than 1.5 seconds, although Tiernan beat the sixth place runner by a margin of just over two seconds and easily finished where he needed to be in order to secure an NCAA berth.

Malone and Williamsz will compete in the national semifinal heats of the 1500 meters on Wednesday, June 8 at Hayward Field in Oregon. The national championship races in both the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters take place on Friday, June 10.

COMPLETE VILLANOVA RESULTS - FRIDAY, MAY 27

1500 Meters - National Quarterfinals

Ben Malone            5th of 24       3:44.15        H2: 5th Jordy Williamsz       13th            3:46.81        H1: 4th

5000 Meters - National Semifinals

Patrick Tiernan       5th of 44       14:10.26       H1: 2nd