VILLANOVA, Pa.—The accepted athletes for the NCAA East Preliminary Meet were announced on Thursday afternoon and Villanova will be represented by 12 student-athletes in the early rounds of the national championships which take place in Jacksonville, Fla. on the University of North Florida campus next week. The meet takes place from May 24-27, with men's competition slated for Wednesday, May 24 and Friday, May 26. The top performers in each event at the East Preliminary competition will advance to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas from June 7-10.
 
Four of the Wildcats qualifiers for regionals will compete in the national first round heats of the 1500 meters, including fifth year senior Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) along with junior Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.), sophomore Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) and redshirt freshman Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.). Senior middle distance runner Sean Dolan (Ewing, N.J.) will run in the first round heats of the 800 meters next Wednesday.
 
The trio of sixth year athlete Ryan Cutter (El Sobrante, Calif.), fifth year runner Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia) and senior Haftu Strintzos (Melbourne, Australia) are all qualifiers for the national semifinal race in the 10000 meters, while fifth year athlete Evan Addison (Collegeville, Pa.) will compete in the quarterfinal heats of the 3000 meter steeplechase. Fifth year triple jumper Malik Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) will compete at the East Preliminary meet for the second time in his career, as will junior javelin throwers Nick Coffey (Cranston, R.I.) and Andrew Grinnell (New Milford, Conn.) who each qualified last year.
 
Next week's NCAA East Preliminary consists of the top 48 declared athletes in each individual event that is part of the NCAA Championships meet program, as well as the top 24 declared teams in both the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x400 meter relay. Regional competition takes place in both the East and at the NCAA West Preliminary meet, held in Sacramento, Calif. on the same dates as the East meet. The top 12 athletes from each regional competition will move on to the NCAA Championships.
 
Four of the Villanova qualifiers won BIG EAST individual titles last week on the Wildcats home track. Dolan repeated as the 800 meter conference champion, while Donoghue won his first career title in the 1500 meters. Murphy won the 5000 meters with a Villanova Stadium record time and Cunningham captured BIG EAST gold for the fourth time in his career in the triple jump. Donoghue, Murphy and Dolan formed three-quarters of the Wildcats winning lineup in the 4x800 meter relay which also set a stadium record at the conference championships.
 
Dolan and Strintzos each qualified for the NCAA Championships last season, where Dolan placed fifth in the 800 meters to earn first team All-America honors and Strintzos tallied his second straight top-20 NCAA finish in the 10000 meters. Last year was the 58^th time since 1947 that Villanova scored team points at the national championships.
 
VILLANOVA MEN'S EVENT SCHEDULE – NCAA EAST PRELIMINARY MEET
 
Wednesday, May 24
1:30 PM – Men's Javelin
6:30 PM – Men's 1500 Meters
7:50 PM – Men's 800 Meters
9:10 PM – Men's 10000 Meters
 
Friday, May 26
5:15 PM – Men's 1500 Meters
5:40 PM – Men's 3000 Meter Steeplechase
6:00 PM – Men's Triple Jump
7:05 PM – Men's 800 Meters