CHICAGO, Ill.—Trophies and medals will be on the line in the Windy City this week as 10 women's teams and nine men's programs converge in Chicago for the 2026 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships presented by JEEP. The second conference championship meet of the cross country/indoor/outdoor seasons is set for Friday and Saturday, February 27-28, at Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park. The site is hosting the indoor BIG EAST meet for the fifth consecutive year.
For the first time this year, the BIG EAST Championships will air live on ESPN+ both Friday and Saturday. Villanova's first event on Friday is the preliminary heats of the women's mile at 2:30 p.m. Central time (3:30 p.m. ET) and action concludes for the day with the men's distance medley relay at 6:10 p.m. Central time (7:10 p.m. ET). Saturday's action kicks off at 11 a.m. Central time and will continue through the awards ceremony at approximately 3:10 in the afternoon.
Tickets
All-session tickets for the 2026 BIG EAST Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP are now available for purchase.
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. Tickets are available for purchase online via the link in this release.
Meet Preview
At last year's championships, the Wildcats finished second in the men's team standings and fifth in the women's standings in a remarkably close meet which saw three teams separated by just eight points from third through fifth places. Villanova owns a total of 26 team titles at the indoor BIG EAST Championships, including 17 women's crowns and nine men's championships.
Senior men's distance runner
Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) enters this week's meet as the top-ranked runner in the nation in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters. He is the school record holder in both events with times of 7:34.00 in the 3K and 13:05.21 in the 5K, both recorded in Boston during this indoor season. He and junior women's distance runner
Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) give the Wildcats the favorites this week in the men's and women's 3000 meters. O'Connor leads the conference with a PR of 9:01.27 in Washington earlier this month and is also the second-ranked runner in the conference with a 5K time of 15:56.27.
In the relays, Villanova has set school records in both the men's and women's distance medley relay this month, and each team has the top times in the conference. The women's DMR squad of sophomore
Bella Walsh (Wilmington, Del.), junior
Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas), graduate student
Lizzie Martell (Essex Junction, Vt.) and O'Connor set an indoor school record of 10:49.98 in Washington to break the mark held by the Wildcats 2011 national championship team which ran 10:52.52. Allen and Martell rank second in the BIG EAST this season in the 400 meters and the 800 meters, respectively, while sophomore
Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.) is second and Walsh third in the mile.
The men's record DMR team of graduate student
Seán Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland), junior
Ethan Walls (Ridgefield, Conn.), junior
Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Langon posted what was then the third-fastest time in collegiate history with their mark of 9:16.10 at the Philadelphia Metro last week. Donoghue led off the race with a school record 1200 meter relay split of 2:50.02, while Langon also set a record anchoring the race with a split of 3:50.75 over the final 1600 meters.
On the field side, graduate student
Maria Deaviz (Souderton, Pa.) ranks 16
th in the NCAA in the shot put with an indoor personal best of 17.01 meters. A newcomer to Villanova this season, Deaviz has recorded the six longest throws in school history in the shot put in her six competitions this season and has broken the school record on four occasions. She is the only athlete in school history to surpass 16 meters or 17 meters in women's shot put. Junior high jumper
Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) won her first BIG EAST title at the 2025 outdoor meet and is ranked second indoors this season with a height of 1.73 meters.
About 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.
