CHICAGO—Villanova scored in 13 of the 14 events it entered and produced seven podium performances to finish third in the team standings at the 2024 BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by Jeep this weekend. In a thrilling final day of competition at Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gatley Park on Saturday afternoon, fifth year collegian Sean Dolan (Ewing, N.J.) and senior Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) won gold medals while breaking the championship meet records in the 800 meters and the 3000 meters. They also broke their own school records in those events and sophomore sprinter Amiri Prescod (Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) won his first career BIG EAST title with a gold medal in the 60 meters.
 
The balance of the Wildcats roster was an impressive storyline from the weekend, as Villanova scored 105 points and tallied a top-three team finish for the sixth straight year and the 23^rd time overall. The team score consisted of 37 points in the distance events to go along with 28 points in the sprints, 19 in the relays, 15 in the throws and six in the jumps. In addition to the three individual champions on Saturday, the Wildcats won the distance medley relay on Friday evening. Villanova had podium finishes in the 60 meters, the 400 meters, the 800 meters, the 3000 meters and the shot put during Saturday's events.
 
One of the most anticipated races of the weekend was the final of the men's 800 meters in which the defending champion Dolan and Tinoda Matsatsa of Georgetown were each ranked in the top-10 nationally entering the meet. Dolan left nothing to chance in his pursuit of a third straight indoor 800 meter title, as he went out hard with the lead and held on by eight-hundredths of a second at the finish line. The winning time of 1:46.90 broke the BIG EAST meet record of 1:47.53 that Dolan himself set two years ago, as well as the indoor school record of 1:46.96 which Dolan also held after setting the mark at Penn State last month. He is the first three-time champion in the indoor 800 meters in BIG EAST history.
 
Meanwhile, the existing BIG EAST meet record in the 3000 meters – set only two years ago – was no match for the combination of Murphy and sophomore Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) in the 3000 meters. Murphy crossed the finish line in 7:42.51 and Langon was right behind him in 7:43.83 as the pair each moved into the top 16 of this year's NCAA descending order list. The previous meet record had been 7:52.02 set by a runner from Connecticut in 2022; Murphy and Langon each beat it by more than eight seconds.
 
The pair of Wildcats began the day looking for qualifying times for the NCAA Championships next month and they all but secured those spots by moving up on the Division I qualifying list. Murphy had set Villanova's previous indoor 3K record of 7:45.67 in February 2023 in Boston. He now holds the absolute record, with Saturday's time beating the mark of 7:43 set by Sydney Maree at the Oregon Twilight Meet on June 9, 1979.
 
Earlier in the day, there was no stopping Prescod who won the 60 meter dash in 6.75 seconds. It marked the fourth personal best of the season and second in as many days for Prescod, who becomes the Wildcats fourth athlete to win either the 55 meters or the 60 meters at the BIG EAST Championships. The school record in the event is 6.65 and has been held by two-time Olympian Salaam Gariba since a performance at the Millrose Games on February 7, 1992. Prescod has registered the second-fastest mark behind Gariba on three separate occasions this season. His new PR of 6.75 in Saturday's final gives him seven of the 12 fastest performances in the Villanova record book in the 60 meters.
 
The other medal winners for the Wildcats on Saturday were junior thrower Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.) in the shot put and senior sprinter Nicholas Mollica (Jackson, N.J.) in the 400 meters. Bolinsky matched his top collegiate mark of 15.01 meters to finish second in a shot put competition which saved plenty of intrigue for the final rounds of throws. Bolinsky had thrown for 14.27 meters on his first attempt of the day and was ranked third out of nine competitors through four rounds of throws. An athlete from Connecticut passed Bolinsky by a single centimeter with his fifth throw, temporarily putting Bolinsky out of a podium finish.
 
The same competitor, making his final attempt while Bolinsky was on deck, threw for 14.45 meters to increase what turned out to be a tenuous hold on third place. Bolinsky reached his mark of 15.01 meters on his final attempt and leapfrogged not one but two UConn athletes to surge into second place and win the silver medal. Villanova sophomore Liam Anderson (Lebanon, N.J.) added two more team points in the shot put with a seventh place finish and a mark of 12.91 meters.
 
Mollica came in third in the 400 meters with a time of 48.18. He registered a personal best for the second straight day and recorded his fifth career BIG EAST podium finish and his highest individual placement in an indoor event. He was one of three Wildcats scorers in the final of the 400 meters as the sophomore duo of Luke Rakowitz (Dallas, Texas) and Jimmy Milgie (Wildwood, Mo.) finished fifth (48.61) and sixth (48.87), respectively. Rakowitz registered a career PR for the second straight day.
 
Earlier in the day Villanova's trio of junior Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland), junior Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) and sixth year collegian Henry Myers (Portland, Ore.) all competed in the final of the mile. Donoghue came in fourth in 4:04.16, followed by a near identical time of 4:04.34 from Comber in fifth place. The pair scored nine team points with their finishes, while Myers was ninth in 4:14.00.
 
Freshman sprinter Parker Turner (Los Angeles, Calif.) finished fourth in the final of the 200 meters in 21.67 one day after he moved up to fifth on the Wildcats all-time indoor performance list in the event. Fifth year jumper Kelechi Eziri (Charlotte, N.C.) came in fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 14.06 meters in his BIG EAST Championships debut.
 
With the conference meet now in the rear view mirror, Villanova will focus its attention on the selections for the NCAA Championships which will be announced during the coming week.