At last Friday and Saturday’s Thomson Invitational in the Delaware Field House, the members of Villanova’s men and women track and field teams finished in the middle of the standings. In the nine-school meet, the men placed fourth overall, while the women finished fifth.

The Invitational, which was held in Newark, De., had its share of individual highlights for each squad. Nia Cooper and Holly Cossnetti each captured top honors in their respective events. Cooper, a sophomore, won the triple jump event with a mark of 11.25 meters. Cossnetti, meanwhile, took first place in the 1000 meter run, with a time of 3:05.46.

Senior Sherian Byam came away with two solid finishes, ending up in second place in both the 60 meter hurdles and the 60 meter dash. Tiana Riel (long jump) and Nicole Bridgewood (400 meter dash) also gained second place finishes for the Wildcats.

Other top finishers for the weekend included Abby Smith (third place, shot put) and Casey Nelson (third place, 1000 meter dash).

Meanwhile, the men’s team posted three first-place finishes. Freshman Francisco Aguirre won the 400 meter dash with a time of 51.17, beating out many of his own teammates. David Wilkes was victorious in the weekend’s pole vault event, with a mark of 4.25 meters.

In another impressive display, freshman Robert McDade took top honors in the shot put with a mark of 16.16 meters and finished second in the weight throw.

Also of note for Villanova’s men’s squad were Mark Korich (third place, 400 meter dash), Tim Murphy (third place, pole vault) and Nick Burkey (third place, 60 meter hurdles).

The Wildcats faced many big-name, northeastern schools during the invitational. The men’s field included Coppin, Delaware State University, Lafayette College, LaSalle University, Lehigh University, the University of Delaware, Temple University and the U.S. Naval Academy.

The women squared off against a field of opponents consisting of Temple, Lehigh, Towson University, Delaware State, Loyola University, LaSalle, Lafayette and the University of Delaware.

Temple University came away from the Thomson Invitational as the big winners of the weekend. They finished first in both the men’s and women’s competitions. The Owls edged Lehigh on the women’s side by just 1.5 points, but cruised to victory over the University of Delaware Blue Hens in the men’s competition.

Delaware also took third for the women, while LaSalle University rounded out the top three for the men. Villanova finished just five points behind LaSalle for fourth place.

This weekend the Wildcats head to Syracuse, N.Y. for the Big East Championships. Nineteen athletes from both track and field squads have qualified in 10 different events.