STORRS, Conn.—Villanova won medals in seven different events and scored a total of 70 points on the final day of the 2026 BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships Presented by JEEP. The highlights of the day were many and included a gold medal in the 1500 meters for senior distance runner Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) as well as the Wildcats fastest 4x100 meter relay time in 46 years. Villanova earned one gold, three silver and three bronze medals in Saturday's action at George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex to surge three spots in the team standings and finish fourth with 91 points over three days of competition.
 
The first two track events of the afternoon set a tone that the Wildcats never looked back from. It began with the 4x100 meter relay team of freshman Christos Batalias (New York, N.Y.), junior Parker Turner (Los Angeles, Calif.), senior Amiri Prescod (Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) and junior Imevar Justice (Summit, N.J.) posting a time of 40.66 to finish in third place for a podium finish and the bronze medal. It is the second time in the last three years but only the sixth time in the last 36 seasons that Villanova has finished in the top three in the 4x100 relay.
 
Justice gained ground coming down the final straightaway to secure a spot on the podium, but it was the time – 40.66 – that may have been the bigger headline from the race. It slots in as the eighth-fastest in school history in the 4x100 relay, and the best time since May 25, 1980, when Rodney Wilson, Keith Brown, Willie Sydnor and Carlton Young ran 40.62 at the IC4A Championship at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. That lineup was led off and anchored by Wildcats Hall of Famers. The current team had a burst of confidence entering Saturday's race.
 
"We knew we were going to get the time," Batalias said of the team's performance. "I think we could have run faster. Next year we're going 39, we're breaking the school record. A lot of work to be done but we're going to get it next year."
 
All three Villanova relay teams made the awards podium in Saturday's races. The meet concluded with the Wildcats finishing second in the 4x800 meter relay and third in the 4x400 relay. This is the second time in the last three years and the fourth time since 2014 that Villanova has had medal performances in all three BIG EAST relays. The 4x800 team consisted of junior Ryan Beegle (Chatham, N.J.), junior Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia), sophomore Jack Fenlon (Laois, Ireland) and senior CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.). They finished in 7:30.50 and Fenlon had the fastest split on the third leg of the race at 1:51.27.
 
The 4x400 meter relay squad of freshman Ty Hoffmann (Bellingham, Wash.), junior Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.), junior Ethan Walls (Ridgefield, Conn.) and senior Jimmy Milgie (Wildwood, Mo.) finished third with a season best time of 3:09.84. They were primed for a big effort after Watcke won silver in the 800 meters earlier in the day, while Walls and Milgie posted personal bests in the 400 meter prelims on Friday afternoon.
 
Saturday's first track final produced the Wildcats first gold medal of the weekend as Langon cruised in the 1500 meters. He won his seventh career BIG EAST title in 3:39.68 and was uncontested after he broke decisively away from the pack with 200 meters to go. Langon's gold medal is his first in the 1500 meters after he won the 5K at the outdoor conference meet in each of the past two seasons. He also has won four indoor BIG EAST titles: one each in the 3K and the 5K as well as two on champion distance medley relay teams.
 
Langon won the 1500 meters by nearly four seconds over the runner-up from Providence. Sophomore Ben Thomas (Sydney, Australia) finished fifth in the final in 3:46.20 and graduate student Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) was eighth with a time of 3:52.97.
 
Watcke and Prescod raced their way to individual spots on the awards podium in addition to being part of medal winning relay teams. The pair of medals made Watcke a six-time All-BIG EAST performer during his career. He earned silver in the final of the 800 meters with a time of 1:47.60, the fifth time he has medaled in the event indoors or outdoors. Prescod won bronze in the 100 meters with a time of 10.68 in the final after he had posted a lifetime best of 10.43 in Friday afternoon's preliminary heats. He is also a six-time All-BIG EAST performer, including twice in the 100 meters.
 
One of the top results of the day was a breakthrough performance by graduate student Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.) in the discus. Already the highest BIG EAST point scorer in throwing events in school history, Bolinsky earned his ninth career conference medal (also a school record for the throws) with a runner-up finish. He had never reached the 50 meter milestone in the discus during his career, but he opened Saturday's competition with a throw of 50.55 meters and later extended the mark to 51.32 meters on his fourth throw. That put him into the lead out of 15 competitors before he ultimately finished with the silver medal.
 
Bolinsky moved up three spots in school history from sixth place to third place on Villanova's all-time performance list in the discus. The last thrower from the program with better marks than Bolinsky in the discus is school record holder Robert McDade who graduated in 2007 and accounts for nine of the 10 longest throws in the program record book.
 
There was more of note for the Wildcats in the throwing events. Senior Aiden Shay (Selinsgrove, Pa.) finished fifth in the javelin with a personal best mark of 55.20 meters. Watching this event unfold made for great theater. The top eight finishers score points in each event, and through the first five rounds of throws Shay was in ninth place despite increasing his distance from 40.98 meters on his first attempt to 45.39 meters on his third throw and 49.79 meters on the fifth attempt. He was on the cusp of moving into eighth place after each one of those throws, but on his sixth and final trip down the runway he left nothing to chance. Shay threw 55.20 meters on his last throw and extended his collegiate best mark from earlier this year which had been 51.70 meters at Rutgers on April 11.
 
The duo of senior Sal Barretta (Whitestone, N.Y.) and sophomore Liam Gluck (Beavercreek, Ohio) posted personal best times in the final of the 400 meter hurdles. They finished fifth and sixth overall, with Barretta lowering his lifetime best to 53.07 and Gluck recorded a PR of 53.48. Turner came in seventh in the final of the 200 meters with a time of 21.53.
 
This is the 12^th consecutive season that the Wildcats have topped 90 team points at the outdoor BIG EAST meet.