The Villanova men and women’s track and field teams put in another strong performance at the Armory Collegiate Invite in New York on Feb. 3 and 4. With world and personal records broken, the ‘Cats were well represented at the meet.

The ‘Nova women’s distance medley relay team was the talk of the weekend. They set a world-leading time along with an Armory facility record in Friday’s race. Their time of 11:05.08 also automatically qualified them for the NCAA Championships in March.

The race was led off by Frances Koons, who ran the 1200-meter leg in 3:23. Tiera Fletcher ran the 400 m leg in 55 seconds before handing it off to the 800-meter portion runner Arusha McKenzie (2:11). The relay was anchored by Marina Muncan, finishing her 200-meter run in 4:34.

Friday proved to be a successful day for the men as well. Sean Tully outran an impressive field of competitors to win the 800-meter championship in a time of 1:51.75. The Wildcats also took home the gold in the men’s 4×800-meter relay in the championship section. The four man team of Dan Tully, Bobby Curtis, Terence Byrnes and Mark Korich posted a time of 7:38.51. Drew Eckman and John Wilsman also finished third and fifth, respectively, in the 500-meter (1:02.59 and 1:03.79).

The ‘Cats continued their success in the invite on Saturday. The 4×400-meter team consisting of Wilsman, Eckman, Carl Hansen and Elvis Lewis added a second place finish to their auspicious year with a time of 3:14.08. Bobby Curtis finished second in the championship men’s invitational mile. He recorded a personal best time of 4:02.32.

Robert McDade concluded the top finishes for the men by placing third with a throw of 18.37 meters in the men’s championship weight throw.

On the women’s side, ‘Nova’s Akilah Vargas won her heat and placed second overall in the championship division of the 800-meter run (2:09.62). Junior Zita Mezei ran a personal best of 4:52.12 in the championship mile, finishing eighth overall.

The members of the 4×400-meter relay team, Arusha McKenzie, Tiera Fletcher, Jordan Sarruda and Yolanda Malcolm finished fourth in their heat of the collegiate division (3:51.07).