VILLANOVA, Pa.—The accepted entries for the NCAA East Preliminary meet were announced on Thursday afternoon and the Villanova men's track & field team will have eight athletes headed to Jacksonville, Fla. next week for the early rounds of the NCAA Championships. Competition at the East Preliminary takes place from May 26-29 at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus. The men's competition will be held on the first and third days of the meet in an adjusted format for the 2021 season.
 
The contingent of Wildcats accepted into the meet include six runners from the team's distance group and two field athletes. Sixth-year senior Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.), redshirt freshman Sean Dolan (Pennington, N.J.) and sophomore Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) will all compete in the 1500 meters at the NCAA preliminary meet. Comber is a previous national finalist in the 1500 meters from the 2019 outdoor track & field seasons, while Dolan and O'Donovan are each competing in their first collegiate outdoors seasons this year. All three Villanova runners are ranked in the top 15 of the 48 declared athletes for the 1500 meters.
 
Sophomore Haftu Strintzos (Victoria, Australia) and junior Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia) will each run in the national semifinal heats of the 5000 meters, while Strintzos will also compete in the semifinal round of the 10000 meters. Both athletes will be making their debut at the NCAA East Preliminary, with Strintzos posting a time of 13:47.32 and Phillips a mark of 13:48.83 during competition at the Raleigh Relays in March. Strintzos recorded a time of 28:55.55 in the 10000 meters at the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational last month and is ranked 14^th among the 48 competitors for the 10K at the preliminary meet.
 
Rounding out the group of runners who will compete for the Wildcats at the preliminary meet is senior Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) who is a two-time qualifier for the meet. Steele ran a personal best time of 8:51.59 in the 3000 meter steeplechase at the Virginia Challenge in April and will compete in the national quarterfinal round of the steeplechase in Jacksonville. He also ran in the event at the 2019 meet.
 
Senior high jumper Jacob Kelly (Longmeadow, Mass.) and junior triple jumper Malik Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) were each accepted into the preliminary meet in their respective events. It is the second straight season in which Kelly has qualified for the meet. His top mark of the season in the long jump is 2.09 meters from the Virginia Challenge in April, while his lifetime best of 2.11 meters was recorded during the 2019 season. Cunningham is having a strong outdoor campaign and set a new personal best with a mark of 15.69 meters in the triple jump at the Virginia Challenge. He went on to finish third at the BIG EAST Championships last week and earned his third career all-conference honor.
 
The top performers from the NCAA East Preliminary will advance to the NCAA Championships which will be held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 9-12.