LEXINGTON, Ky.—A quartet of Villanova men's distance runners took center stage Friday night on the third day of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary and punched their tickets to the national championships with a series of sensational performances. It started with the 1500 meters in which the duo of Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) and Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) advanced out of the same heat to be the Wildcats first men's qualifiers of the weekend for the NCAA Championships next month. Later in the night it was Sean Dolan (Ewing, N.J.) earning his third consecutive outdoor national berth in the 800 meters, followed less than an hour later by Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) securing a spot in the 5000 meters.
 
One day remains at this week's NCAA East Preliminary meet and Villanova has qualified five athletes thus far for the NCAA Championships which take place in Eugene, Ore. from June 5-8. The four men's runners who earned their spots on Friday join women's distance runner Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) who qualified in the 10000 meters on Thursday night. Sigfstead will be one of seven women still competing for the Wildcats on Saturday with events ranging from the high jump and discus to the 800 meters and 5000 meters.
 
It was the three men's distance events which made up Friday's docket however, and they each had their own set of thrills.
 
1500 Meters
 
Murphy is the top qualifier coming out of the East region in the 1500 meters after he won the first of two quarterfinal heats in 3:38.30. The race was as fast as it was close. Each of the first 11 runners across the finish line came in with times that were faster than the winner of the second heat. O'Donovan came in seventh in that opening heat in 3:39.99 to earn one of two on-time qualifying spots for the NCAA Championships. He stood just outside of the track and with a bird's eye view of the finish line as he watched the second heat go out.
 
Friday's race was the fifth time in Murphy's career and the third time this season he has broken 3:40 in the 1500 meters. He went nearly wire-to-wire with the lead, first moving to near the front of the pack in the opening 300 meters and later pulling in front of runner-up Anass Essayi from South Carolina during the final lap. Assayi (3:38.55), Steven Jackson from Boston College (3:38.66) and Damien Dilcher from Iona (3:38.85) were less than six-tenths of a second off Murphy's pace.
 
Murphy set a facility record at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track and Field Complex for the second time this week. He briefly held the record at 3:42.69 following his first round heat on Wednesday afternoon, only to see Parvej Khan lower the mark to 3:41.10 in a later heat. For the second straight academic year Murphy will have competed at the NCAA Championships in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. Earlier this year he came in fourth at the indoor championships in the 3000 meters. He came in 14^th at the cross country championships in the Fall. Last year, Murphy competed on the Wildcats distance medley relay team at the indoor NCAA meet and finished 11^th nationally in the 1500 meters outdoors.
 
This is the fourth straight season that O'Donovan has competed in the 1500 meters at the NCAA East meet and he was seeking his first trip to the NCAA Championships. O'Donovan stayed with the leaders for the first half of the race and was still in good position with 400 meters to go. The heats of the 1500 meters all week had been marked by fast final laps and O'Donovan's split of 54.20 on the bell lap kept him just under a quarter of a second in front of Owen Karas from Yale (3:40.22) at the finish line. He could only wait and hope for a slower second heat.
 
"I'm just grateful," O'Donovan said of his thoughts while watching the second heat. "The last two years I showed up to this meet unhealthy and coming off illness, and bounced out in the first round when I was always someone who I knew could go to this meet [NCAA's]. I got a small bit lucky today because I didn't have the race I wanted to. I think had executed one of my best college races on Wednesday and today I had a couple of good strategies, but I didn't get a good start and got boxed in. I know I spent a lot of time in lane two and a lot of time moving up and down. Luck was on my side for once and thankfully we ran quick. This program has been building something in the last four years that I have been a part of and I'm overall just grateful. I think we'll have more guys punch their tickets tonight."
 
O'Donovan spoke that last line just after the 1500 meters ended and he proved prophetic on multiple counts later in the evening.
 
800 Meters
 
Unlike their teammates before them, Dolan and Villanova freshman Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) had to wait until the final quarterfinal heat in the 800 meters to vie for their opportunity to advance to nationals. The top tree finishers in each heat and the next three fastest times would secure the 12 spots from the East region to the NCAA meet. The first heat was arguably the fastest in NCAA East Preliminary history, as the first four runners across the finish line posted times that rank second through fifth on the all-time meet performance list (the current East and West preliminary meets are a format that began with the 2010 season).
 
That opening section created a harder competition in the two successive heats, and indeed all three of the on-time qualifiers for nationals came out of the first heat. Dolan finished third in his heat in 1:46.50 to grab the final automatic qualifying spot for Eugene. Watcke, in his first season as a collegian and making his debut at the NCAA East meet, ran a strong race and finished sixth in the heat with a time of 1:48.08. He showed the instincts and the level of competitiveness that he'll need going forward to be both a mainstay and a contender in this meet as his career continues.
 
Dolan will continue his own collegiate career in a familiar place. He has finished as high as fifth in the 800 meters at the outdoor NCAA Championships and was the indoor NCAA runner-up earlier this year. He went out in 52.33 for the first lap of Friday's race and was at the front of the pack when he began his kick to the finish on the bell lap. That move may have been earlier than he needed to make one given how fast a heat the field of eight runners was already on pace for, but this was Dolan's fourth time running in the East Preliminary and he confidently held on for third place and the final automatic qualifying spot at the finish line.
 
5000 Meters
 
Langon and junior Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) ran in separate national semifinal heats of the 5000 meters to close out Friday night's schedule. It was Langon's first go-around at this meet, while Comber shifted to the 5K this year after being an NCAA East qualifier in the 1500 meters when he was a redshirt freshman last season. The newness of the meet didn't phase Langon, who ran the type of race he expected to in the first of the two 5K heats. He finished second with a time of 13:58.89 and automatically advanced to Eugene.
 
The race was a technically sound one for Langon, who stayed near the front of a tight pack for the first several laps and bade his time in good position until he took over the lead with a mile to go. Langon never had the fastest split of any one lap during the race, but he ran with the lead for nearly all of the final four laps in the race. Parker Wolfe from North Carolina took the lead on the bell lap and finished in 13:56.51, followed by Langon in 13:58.89 and three more runners who all crossed the finish line within a second of Langon. The second heat would eventually be the faster of the two and produce a pair of on-time qualifiers for nationals.
 
It has been a sensational year for Langon, who ran the second-fastest 3K time in school history indoors at the BIG EAST Championships (behind only Murphy who set a school record in the same race) and has gone on to star in the 5K outdoors. He recorded a lifetime best of 13:28.44 in California last month and had a thrilling finish at the BIG EAST meet two weeks ago to win the conference title in 13:45.50.
 
Comber's outdoor season also includes a PR in the 5000 meters, with his mark of 13:45.90 at the Raleigh Relays in March putting him 10^th on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the event. He finished sixth at the BIG EAST Championships and closed out a successful year with Friday's race. Comber ran in the second heat and finished 16^th in that section with a time of 14:28.69.
 
Up Next
 
Villanova has four women's events on Saturday as the NCAA East Preliminary reaches its conclusion. The discus featuring Adria Retter (Quakertown, Pa.) begins at 1 p.m., while the duo of Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) and Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) get started in the high jump at 2 p.m. The track events for the day include Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) and Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) in the 800 meters at 7:05 p.m. plus the pair of Sigfstead and Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) in the 5000 meters at 8:10 p.m.