Photo Gallery

TAMPA, Fla. - Junior distance runner Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.) is heading back to the NCAA Championships for a second straight year after automatically qualifying in the 5000 meters in her national semifinal race at the NCAA East Preliminary meet on Saturday night. Hutchinson finished third in her heat to advance to the national championships, where she will be one of three Villanova women's athletes in competition.

This week's East preliminary meet wrapped up on Saturday at the USF Track & Field Stadium with the quarterfinal heats of the 1500 meters and the semifinal round of the 5000 meters. Freshman Rachel McArthur (Bristow, Va.) recorded a ninth place finish in her heat of the 1500 meters, while junior Bella Burda (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) and freshman Lauren Ryan (South Yarra, Australia) posted times of 16:56.74 and 17:11.76 in their heat of the 5000 meters.

Hutchinson crossed the finish line in 16:15.93 in the first of two semifinal heats. She led the field through the first two laps around the track before finding a spot on the rail and positioning herself near the front of a crowded pack for the rest of the first two miles in the race. The first five runners across the line in each heat and the next two fastest times advanced to the NCAA Championships, and the field in the first heat began to string out with a mile to go.

After the top two runners broke away from the rest of the lead pack with 600 meters left, Hutchinson kept up a steady pace to protect her spot in the top five. The sixth place runner started to gain ground with 200 meters to go, but it appeared that Hutchinson found an extra gear going into the final turn. She wound up being third across the finish line, with the final two automatic qualifiers three and six seconds behind her.

"I had that little chip in my head that last 200 where I didn't know if there was anyone around me but I was just going to give it everything I have because there was no way I'm not going to Eugene after hurting this much," Hutchinson said. "I fell off the lead girls in the last 1200 and I kind of held my position and kept going. I just tried to hold the pace and keep going to make sure I got through. I was really happy with how it unfolded."

The day began with the quarterfinal round of the 1500 meters. McArthur ran in the first of two heats, with the runners taking the track right as a heavy downpour engulfed the track. The torrent lasted no longer than 10 minutes, spanning roughly the time that the runners in the first heat were taking their strides and running the race. McArthur posted a time of 4:26.43 and finished 18th overall to conclude her first year of collegiate competition. She earned All-BIG EAST honors in both the 800 meters individually and as part of the team's 4x400 meter relay at the conference championships, and also ran a leg on the Championship of America winning distance medley and 4x800 meter relays at the Penn Relays last month.

Burda and Ryan each competed in the second semifinal heat of the 5000 meters. After recording a 14th place finish in the 10000 meters less than 48 hours earlier, Burda was back on the track to complete the double in the two long distance events at the preliminary meet. She came in 18th in the heat of the 5000 meters, with Ryan finishing 21st in that section.

Villanova had a total of 16 athletes qualify for this week's NCAA East Preliminary, including 10 on the women's side. The entries for the Wildcats included runners at every distance from 800 meters through 10000 meters as well as freshman Taryn Ashby (Pittston, Pa.) in the javelin.

"It was amazing having such a big group around because normally people start to go home and there is just a couple of us training together," Hutchinson said. "Having such a big group supporting each other, flying out here together and watching everyone's races made it so much more of a team event. It made it a lot easier to relax and not get nervous because we were focusing on how everyone else was doing in their races all weekend."