PRINCETON, N.J.—Sophomore distance runner Jack Fenlon (Laois, Ireland) is the newest member of Villanova sub-four-minute mile club after he achieved the metric equivalent of the feat in the 1500 meters at the Larry Ellis Invitational on Friday evening. Junior Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia) ran the Wildcats fastest 1500 meters of the season in the same race as the team started the weekend off with a pair of instant highlights.
 
Habler lowered his lifetime best in the 1500 meters by just over two seconds with a time of 3:40.12 in the elite section of the event at Weaver Stadium. He moved up to second in the BIG EAST this season with his fastest 1500 meters since he had run 3:42.15 last season. Habler posted a top 40 time in the East region on this year's descending order list.
 
The tradition of the sub-four-minute mile in Villanova history is well known, and Fenlon's addition to the long list of Wildcats who have reached this distinction is a special one. He is the 52^nd member of Villanova's sub-four club, with exactly half of those runners – 26 – being coached by Marcus O'Sullivan, who himself ran more than 100 sub-four miles during his career. Fenlon is the 12^th runner out of the 52 in program history who first checked off the accomplishment in the 1500 meters (the metric equivalent of four minutes is 3:42.20).
 
More impressively, Fenlon is the eighth person on the Wildcats active roster who is a sub-four miler and the third person who has added their name to the list this year. During the indoor track & field season junior CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.) and sophomore Ben Thomas (Sydney, Australia) ran 3:57.19 and 3:58.48, respectively. Thomas had run 3:37.96 in the 1500 meters before arriving at Villanova.
 
Graduate student Matt Bogdan (Howell, N.J.) and junior Ryan Beegle (Chatham, N.J.) posted season best times in the 1500 meters and the 800 meters on Friday night. Bogdan posted a time of 3:51.98 in his 1500 meter race and Beegle ran 1:52.95 in his first 800 meter race since the indoor season.
 
Before the track events started early in the evening, the Wildcats already had a highlight for the day as freshman thrower Theo Hedgemon (Atlanta, Ga.) moved into the top 10 in school history in the hammer. He threw 53.12 meters to reach No. 9 on Villanova's all-time performance list after coming within five centimeters of the program's top 10 when he recorded his last PR of 51.75 meters at the Penn Relays last week. Graduate student Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.) had a mark of 54.29 meters in the hammer and qualified for the final where he finished ninth overall.
 
Junior thrower Aiden Shay (Selinsgrove, Pa.) threw 47.06 meters in the javelin and freshman Ryan Schmitt (Holmdel, N.J.) posted a time of 14:28.81 while competing unattached in the 5000 meters.