NEW YORK—Sophomore middle distance runner Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) and junior jumper Michael Troup (Doylestown, Pa.) have each been recognized by the BIG EAST for their performances last weekend.  O'Donovan was named the Men's Track Athlete of the Week and Troup was selected as the Men's Field Athlete of the Week in an announcement made by the conference on Wednesday afternoon.  It is the first career weekly honor for each athlete. 
 
O'Donovan ran the first sub-four minute mile of his career and became the 42^nd runner from Villanova to accomplish the feat at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational last Saturday.  He recorded a time of 3:58.95 and used a fantastic finish over the final 100 meters to win his section of the event in a race that featured both collegiate and professional runners.  O'Donovan took over the BIG EAST lead and is currently ranked 15^th nationally in the Mile this season.  The top 16 declared athletes will qualify for the NCAA Championships next month. 
 
Troup recorded a personal best mark of 7.33 meters in the long jump at the FastTrack National Invitational last Friday.  He improved his previous top mark by 20 centimeters and moved to the top of the BIG EAST performance list for the current season.  Troup won his section of the long jump at the FastTrack meet and narrowly passed Joseph Keys of Marquette (7.32m) for the conference lead.  He also ran in the preliminary heats of the 60 meter dash and posted a time of 7.21 in his heat. 
 
In addition to tallying the best mark of his career, Troup also surged on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the long jump.  He now ranks fifth in school history indoors and is ninth on the all-seasons list.  Troup is a nine-time BIG EAST scorer during his Villanova career. 
 
With the BIG EAST Championships just two weeks away, the Wildcats currently own the top performers in the conference this season in four different events.  O'Donovan and Troup lead the Mile and the long jump, respectively, while freshman Anthony Brodie has set the standard in the 200 meters (21.73) and sophomore Malik Cunningham leads in the triple jump (15.43m). 
 
Two meets are on the Villanova schedule this week.  A delegation of the team's middle distance runners will compete at the Armory College Last Chance meet on Friday afternoon, while several of the Wildcats throwers will be in action at the Princeton Invitational on Sunday.