STORRS, Conn.—Sophomore sprinter Parker Turner (Los Angeles, Calif.) recorded the fastest time in the 200 meters by a Villanova runner in seven years and matched his personal best in the 100 meters to advance to the final of both events during preliminary round competition at the 2025 BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP on Friday afternoon. Turner is one of six Wildcats who moved on from the preliminary heats on Friday at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex, and the only one of the six who qualified for the final in two events.
 
The final preliminary event of the day was the 200 meters. Turner posted a time of 21.35 which was the fourth-fastest out of 18 runners in the preliminaries. He finished second in his heat to earn an automatic qualifying spot in the final. His time is three-hundredths of a second faster than his previous PR which was set at the Raleigh Relays earlier this season, while Friday's mark is also the fastest by any Wildcats athlete in the 200 meters since the 2018 outdoor BIG EAST Championships.
 
Turner ran the 200 meters about 90 minutes after he won his heat in the 100 meters with a time of 10.54. That matches his PR from the Virginia Challenge last month and makes him the second-fastest qualifier for the final out of 15 athletes who competed in the preliminaries. This is the third straight year that a Villanova sprinter has qualified for the final in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters, with Turner matching the feat of his teammate Amiri Prescod (Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) who did so each of the last two years. Turner earned his first career All-BIG EAST honor earlier this year when he finished third in the 200 meters at the indoor conference championships.
 
The junior duo of Ronan O'Neill (Wilmette, Ill.) and Sal Barretta (Whitestone, N.Y.) qualified for the final of the 400 meter hurdles. They finished second and third in the same preliminary heat while posting times of 55.13 and 55.73, respectively. O'Neill picked up an automatic qualifying spot and Barretta advanced on time out of the heat.
 
Freshman Ben Thomas (Sydney, Australia) and sophomore Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) each comfortably moved on to the final of the 800 meters. Thomas came in second in the first of three heats in 1:50.84 and Watcke was second in the final heat with a time of 1:52.37. Watcke was the runner-up in the 800 meters at both last year's outdoor BIG EAST Championships and this year's indoor meet. He was a first team All-American in the event at the NCAA Championships earlier this year.
 
The first qualifier of the day for the Wildcats was fifth year Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) who eased into the championship race of the 1500 meters with a second place showing and a time of 3:55.73 in his preliminary heat. Murphy is the NCAA record holder in the 1500 meters with a personal best time of 3:33.02 earlier this year. He is also the defending BIG EAST champion in the event and reached the final of the 1500 meters at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last summer.