VILLANOVA, Pa.—All eyes will be on Lexington, Ky. this week as Villanova sends 15 student-athletes to the NCAA East First Round competition at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track & Field Complex. The meet runs from Wednesday through Saturday, May 27-30, and will determine the qualifiers for the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships which take place in Eugene, Ore. next month. The contingent of Wildcats competing at the NCAA East First Round includes eight men's athletes and seven women's athletes.
Seven of the team's 15 qualifiers will be competing at the meet for the first time in their careers, while the other eight have combined to make 14 previous appearances in the preliminary rounds of the national championships. The group is led by senior distance runner
Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) who has advanced to the NCAA Championships in the 5000 meters in each of the last two outdoor seasons and will run that event again this year. He and junior middle distance runner
Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) have each been first team All-Americans indoors. Watcke is a qualifier for the NCAA East First Round in the 800 meters for the third straight year.
The other returning qualifiers for the Villanova men are fifth year
Seán Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) in the 1500 meters, fifth year
Matt Bogdan (Holmdel, N.J.) in the 3000 meter steeplechase and junior
CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.) in the 1500 meters. Donoghue advanced from this meet to the NCAA Championships in 2023 and has competed at the East First Round on three previous occasions. He recorded a personal best of 3:40.86 in the 1500 meters earlier this month.
Bogdan is in his first year with the Wildcats after competing at North Carolina State as an undergraduate. His personal best time of 8:49.58 at the Penn Relays this year ranks him seventh in school history in the steeplechase. He qualified for this meet two years ago while running for the Wolfpack. Sullivan has run 13:41.28 in the 5000 meters this year and ranks ninth in school history. He came in 10
th in the national semifinal round of the 5K as a redshirt freshman last year.
The first time qualifiers for Villanova are sophomore
Ben Thomas (Syndey, Australia) in the 1500 meters and the duo of sophomore
Jack Fenlon (Laois, Ireland) and junior
Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia) in the 5000 meters. All three, along with the Langon, Donoghue and Sullivan, are sub-four-minute milers this season. Thomas has run 3:41.29 in the 1500 meters this year and owns a lifetime best of 3:37.96. Habler ranks fifth in school history in the 5K with a time of 13:28.55 set last year. He and Fenlon have season bests this year of 13:41.57 and 13:44.87.
On the women's side, the Wildcats are led by three-time qualifiers
Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) in the high jump and
Nikki Vanasse (Martinsville, N.J.) in the 1500 meters. Cunningham tied for 17
th at the NCAA East First Round last season and is coming off her third straight BIG EAST gold medal spanning the outdoor and indoor seasons. Vanasse previously qualified for this meet in the 1500 meters two times during her undergraduate career at Columbia. Junior sprinter
Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas) returns to the NCAA East First Round for the second straight season in the 400 meter hurdles. She ranks second in school history in the hurdles with a time of 57.24. That PR came in the BIG EAST final two weeks ago as she won her third conference title in a row.
Villanova's first time qualifiers for first round competition are junior
Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) and fifth year
Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) in the 5000 meters, as well as sophomores
Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.) and
Bella Walsh (Wilmington, Del.) in the 1500 meters. O'Connor ranks fifth in school history in the 5K with a PR of 15:42.69 recorded in this year's season opener at the Raleigh Relays. Carroll could have doubled in the 10K and 5K this week but will concentrate on the 5000 meters in which he posted a PR of 15:54.86 at this year's Penn Relays. She ranks eighth on the Wildcats all-time outdoor performance list in the 5K.
Walsh and Shay rank eighth and 10
th, respectively, in school history in the 1500 meters. They were part of a memorable day in Virginia on April 17 when they formed half of a Villanova quartet – along with O'Connor and Vanasse – who each broke 4:17 in the 1500 meters on the same day. It has not happened for the Wildcats in at least 25 years based on available data that four runners broke 4:17 and three finished under 4:15 in the 1500 meters on the same day. Walsh and Shay have PRs from that meet of 4:13.56 and 4:13.98.
Evening competition at the NCAA East First Round will be broadcast live on ESPN+ all four days. Men's events are slated for Wednesday and Friday, while the women compete on Thursday and Saturday. The top qualifiers from the meet will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. from June 10-13.
Villanova Schedule of Events – NCAA East First Round
Wednesday, May 27
6:30 PM – Men's 1500 Meters (National First Round)
7:50 PM – Men's 800 Meters (National First Round)
Thursday, May 28
6:30 PM – Women's 1500 Meters (National First Round)
8:20 PM – Women's 400 Meter Hurdles (National First Round)
Friday, May 29
5:15 PM – Men's 1500 Meters (National Quarterfinal Round)
5:40 PM – Men's 3000 Meter Steeplechase (National Quarterfinal Round)
7:05 PM – Men's 800 Meters (National Quarterfinal Round)
8:10 PM – Men's 5000 Meters (National Semifinal Round)
Saturday, May 30
2:00 PM – Women's High Jump (National Semifinal Round)
5:15 PM – Women's 1500 Meters (National Quarterfinal Round)
7:25 PM – Women's 400 Meter Hurdles (National Quarterfinal Round)
8:10 PM – Women's 5000 Meters (National Semifinal Round)
