CHICAGO, Ill.—Villanova men's track & field is set for the start of competition on Friday afternoon in the 2025 BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP. The indoor conference meet returns to Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park and will be contested on Friday and Saturday. Villanova owns 14 all-time podium finishes (team champion or runner-up) at the indoor championships and was the runner-up at last year's meet.
 
Live action from the BIG EAST Championships can be seen on BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports Presented by Invesco QQQ. The first event for the Wildcats is the long jump on Friday at 1:00 p.m. Central time (2:00 p.m. Eastern). Saturday's action begins with the final of the mile at 11:40 a.m. Central time (12:40 p.m. Eastern), with the awards ceremony wrapping up the meet at approximately 3:10 p.m. local time in Chicago. Streaming coverage on BEDN will continue through the awards ceremony.
 
All-session tickets for the 2025 BIG EAST Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP are available for purchase online. General admission to the event starts at $15 for a single-day ticket, while all-session two-day passes can be purchased for $25. A group discount is available for groups of 10 or more individuals. The group tickets start at $12 per person for one day or $16 per person for a two-day ticket. Seating for the championships will be general admission.
 
Two of the top performers for the Wildcats from last year's BIG EAST Championships are back again this season in fifth year distance runner Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) and junior Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.). In the final individual track event of last year's indoor meet, the pair memorably broke meet and Villanova school records in the 3000 meters with Murphy winning in 7:42.51 and Langon right behind him in 7:43.83. They have each run even faster this season while starring in the mile, the 3K and the 5000 meters during the year.

Murphy is slated to return to the 3000 meters competition this week along with senior Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) and the redshirt freshman duo of CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.) and Nick Sullivan (Middletown, N.J.). At the Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invite in Boston earlier this month, Murphy lowered his own Villanova standard in the 3K with a time of 7:35.47. All four Wildcats have set lifetime bests this season, with Comber (7:55.33) and CJ (7:59.46) each breaking eight minutes. Nick's most recent PR was 8:14.04 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational two weeks ago.
 
A similar quartet will represent Villanova in the 5000 meters, with Langon entered in that event along with the same three of Comber, Sullivan and Sullivan joining him. Langon owns the second-fastest 5K time in school history at 13:14.11 in this year's season opener, trailing only Murphy (13:10.42) in what has been looking to become Langon's signature event on the track. Comber has run as fast as 13:45.90 during last year's outdoor season, while CJ (13:58.11) and Nick (14:18.88) each have PRs from earlier this year.
 
It has been a record-setting indoor season for the Wildcats, led in part by the performances of standout sophomore middle distance runner Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) who has broken Villanova records in the 800 meters and the 1000 meters. His 1K time of 2:17.77 in Boston earlier this month ranks as the third-fastest time in NCAA history, while he also has run 1:46.32 to set the program's indoor mark in the 800 meters.
 
Watcke will be making his indoor BIG EAST Championships debut after not competing until the outdoor season as a freshman last year. Senior Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland), a sub-four minute miler and one of the Wildcats more versatile runners who has competed at every distance from the 800 meters through the 3000 meters, is also entered in the 800 meters in Chicago this week.
 
Rounding out the distance events, redshirt freshmen Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia) and Kai Mitchell-Reiss (Portland, Ore.) will each compete in the mile. Habler drops down in distance after breaking eight minutes in the 3K earlier in the season and will be running his first collegiate mile race in Friday's trials. Mitchell-Reiss owns PRs in both the mile and the 3K this season, with his fastest mile of 4:07.94 occurring at the Penn 10 Elite in January.
 
Junior sprinter Amiri Prescod (Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) is the defending BIG EAST champion in the 60 meters and ranks second in school history in the event with a lifetime best of 6.75 recorded at least year's conference meet. His top time this season is 6.88, while sophomore Parker Turner (Los Angeles, Calif.) owns a season best of 6.91 which also ties his PR from last year's conference championships. Turner will run both the 60 meters and the 200 meters this week. He finished fourth in the 200 meters last season and is ranked fifth this year with a time of 21.64, just three-hundredths of a second off his indoor PR.
 
Villanova has four runners entered in the 400 meters, led by junior Luke Rakowitz (Dallas, Texas) and sophomore Ethan Walls (Ridgefield, Conn.) who have each recorded personal bests this season. Rakowitz is ranked sixth in the BIG EAST this season with a time of 48.18 recorded in Boston on February 14, while Walls has lowered his PR multiple times this season to his current mark of 49.01 from the Penn State National Invitational last month. Junior Sal Barretta (Whitestone, N.Y.) previously ran the 400 meters at the 2023 indoor BIG EAST meet and sophomore Matthew Griffin (Whippany, N.J.) competed in the event at last year's outdoor championships.
 
In the field events, senior long jumper Justin Miller (Collierville, Tenn.) will be the Wildcats first athlete in action this week when he gets underway at 1 p.m. local time on Friday afternoon. His season best is 7.13 meters which ranks him sixth in the BIG EAST. He scored in the long jump both indoors and outdoors last season, as well as earning points outdoors in the javelin and as the anchor of the team's All-BIG EAST 4x100 meter relay squad.
 
Senior thrower Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.) has been a standout performer at the BIG EAST Championships on numerous occasions, most recently last outdoor season when he was both the men's High Point Performer and was named the meet's Outstanding Field Performer. Bolinsky is a 10-time BIG EAST scorer during his career, including three times indoors. Last season he was the runner-up in the shot put and came in fourth in the weight throw. He is once again slated to compete in both events this week.
 
Bolinsky will be joined in the shot put by freshman Chris Coulter (Philadelphia, Pa.) and junior Liam Anderson (Lebanon, N.J.), while the duo of freshman Joe D'Adamo (Nanuet, N.Y.) and sophomore Jonathan Evans (Springfield, Va.) will compete in the weight throw. Coulter and D'Adamo are each enjoying strong rookie seasons so far in 2025, with Coulter throwing 13.90 meters in the shot put and D'Adamo posting a mark of 14.01 meters in the weight throw.
 
Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park
Located in Gately Park's Pullman neighborhood, the facility opened in 2020, and has become a host for a variety of prestigious competitions and regional and national championships. The center is a world-class facility with the area's first hydraulically banked 200-meter track.

Within the 139,000-square foot facility there is a seating capacity for 3,500 and includes supporting amenities such as a meet management control room, concessions, multipurpose rooms and locker rooms. Additionally, the facility features a 4,000-square foot curtained warm-up area, eight sprint lanes, two long and triple jump runways and pits, pole-vault runway and pads, a high jump area, discus area and scoreboard.