CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Senior distance runner Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) lowered his personal best time in the 3000 meter steeplechase by nearly six full seconds and freshman thrower Andrew Grinnell (New Milford, Conn.) surged into eighth place on the all-time Villanova performance list in the javelin with a lifetime best throw as the Wildcats opened two days of competition at the Virginia Challenge on Friday afternoon. Senior distance runners Justin Weber (South Milwaukee, Wis.) and Paul Nichols (Latham, N.Y.) each cracked the Villanova all-time performance list in the 10000 meters to close an exciting day for the team at Lannigan Field.
 
Steele provided one of the highlights with his first steeplechase race since the end of the 2019 season. He came in ninth overall out of 26 competitors and recorded a time of 8:51.59 to beat the previous personal best of 8:57.50 he had established at the Raleigh Relays during the 2018 season. His new top time from Friday's competition also moved him up a spot into eighth place on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the steeplechase, passing John Hartnett who ran 8:54.2 at the 1973 IC4A Championship during his collegiate career. Steele's time was fastest than any previous mark on the East Region qualifying list through the first month or so of the outdoor season.
 
The final event of the night for Villanova was the 10000 meters in which Weber and Nichols each broke 30 minutes for the first time in their careers. Weber finished eighth out of 31 entries in their section of the 10K with a time of 29:37.05, while Nichols was close behind in 10^th place and crossed the finish line in 29:51.36. The time for Weber will put him into seventh place on the Wildcats all-time collegiate season performance list, while Nichols will settle at 11^th place on the list. Their times will edge Brad Gair (29:52.2 in 1979) off the program's top-10 list. The marks would also have ranked 24^th and 27^th in the East Region at the start of the day.
 
Grinnell competed for the first time since the Raleigh Relays last month and threw for 59.49 meters in the javelin, nearly six meters and close to 20 feet beyond the distance of 53.63 meters he recorded at the Raleigh meet. Competing in the first of two flights in the javelin, Grinnell tallied his top mark on his third and final throw of the first round. He sat in seventh place overall following his flight and qualified for the final and three more throws.
 
Grinnell wound up eighth overall in Friday's competition, while freshman Nick Coffey (Cranston, R.I.) was 12^th with a mark of 54.74 meters and redshirt freshman Joe DiDario (Ocean Township, N.J.) placed 13^th with a throw of 54.40 meters. The performance jumps Grinnell into eighth place on the Villanova performance list in the javelin, knocking Coffey (59.02m) and DiDario (58.73m) into 10^th and 11^th place on that list.
 
Fifth-year senior Jadyn Anczarski (Ringtown, Pa.) was the other thrower in action on Friday for the Wildcats and he posted marks of 47.65 meters in the discus and 52.54 meters in the hammer. In other field events, freshman Carmen Ostroski (Blue Bell, Pa.) recorded a personal best distance of 7.12 meters in the long jump and came in eighth in that competition, while senior Michael Troup (Doylestown, Pa.) was 11^th with a mark of 6.78 meters.
 
Earlier in the day, junior Richie Bush (Lawnside, N.J.) and freshmab Jakob Kunzer (George Town, Grand Cayman) posted times of 48.15 and 49.79, respectively, in the 400 meters. Junior distance runner Jack Fredian (Arlington Heights, Ill.) recorded a personal best time of 14:10.21 in the 5000 meters.