CORAL GABLES, Fla.—Junior javelin thrower Nick Coffey (Cranston, R.I.) and fifth year triple jumper Malik Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) recorded huge performances in their respective events to highlight the second and final day of competition for Villanova in the Hurricane Alumni Invitational at Cobb Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Coffey recorded the third-longest throw in school history in the javelin and Cunningham registered the third-longest mark in the triple jump of his career.
 
Coffey got the morning off to a roaring start with a throw of 67.90 meters in the javelin. He sailed past his previous personal best of 65.35 meters from last year's BIG EAST Championships and added nearly four meters to his lead atop the conference performance list for this season. Coffey surged into the top 20 of this year's East Region performance list (No. 19) pending the outcome of other meets around the country this weekend. He moved up to second place overall on the Wildcats all-time performance list with the current javelin implement which was introduced in 1999.
 
It took just two throws for Coffey to win Saturday's competition in Miami. His first attempt of the day was for 65.14 meters and was the longest throw in the first round by any of the 15 competitors in the event. He extended that mark to 67.90 meters on his second throw and had a first place finish wrapped up by that early point in the competition. Coffey fouled on his third trip down the runway before passing on his remaining attempts with the result secured. Junior Andrew Grinnell (New Milford, Conn.) also fared well on Saturday with a third place finish and a season-best mark of 64.30 meters. That distance will put him second to Coffey on the BIG EAST performance list.
 
Cunningham opened his outdoor season in impressive fashion in the final field event to conclude on Saturday evening. He recorded a jump of 15.99 meters to finish second out of 15 athletes. Cunningham will tentatively rank fifth in the East Region after his season debut and he leads the BIG EAST by a healthy margin. The distance of 15.99 meters is the third-longest for Cunningham in a Villanova singlet and his second-longest jump outdoors. He is a three-time BIG EAST champion in the triple jump, a past qualifier for the NCAA East Preliminary meet outdoors and an All-American indoors during the 2022 season.
 
The competition was a steady one for Cunningham, who recorded successful jumps on five of his six attempts on the day. He got off to a fast start and led the field of competitors with a distance of 15.81 meters in the first round of jumps. He extended that mark to 15.92 meters and was in second place following the second round of attempts before later tallying the eventual distance of 15.99 meters on his fifth attempt of the night.
 
Freshman sprinter Amiri Prescod (Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) recorded personal best times in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters. He lowered his top times in each of those events for the second time in as many weeks after tallying PRs at the Big 5 Invitational last weekend. This time around Prescod posted a time of 10.76 in the 100 meters and finished in 21.84 in the 200 meters. He remains in fourth place in the BIG EAST in each of those events on the season.
 
Four other sprinters were in action for the Wildcats on Saturday in both individual events and to run the 4x400 meter relay which was the final track event of the night. Freshman Luke Rakowitz (Dallas, Texas), junior Nicholas Mollica (Jackson, N.J.), junior Jakob Kunzer (George Town, Grand Cayman) and freshman Jimmy Milgie (Wildwood, Mo.) combined to post a time of 3:15.48 and finish second in the 4x400 relay. It was the first time Villanova ran a 4x400 relay this Spring.
 
Prior to the relay Milgie led three Wildcats in the 400 meters with a season best time of 48.48. He finished 11^th overall out of 33 competitors, followed by Kunzer in 14^th place with a season best time of 48.96 and Rakowitz in 20^th place in 49.96. Mollica competed in the 400 meter hurdles and posted a time of 53.72.
 
Villanova returns to action next weekend when it competes in the Larry Ellis Invitational on April 14-15.