It was a beautiful, sunny, 75-degree day at Widener University where Villanova’s track and field team competed in the Widener Invitational. It was a bit warm for racing, but no one complained. The day was a successful one, full of competitive races and qualifying times. The Big East Championships start on April 29, while Regionals start on May 28. That doesn’t leave much time for the athletes to meet the qualifying standards.

Senior Paul Moser tore open the 400-meter dash, running 47.18 to take first by over a second and qualifying for Big East. Marc Carberry had a new personal best in the 800-meter run placing fourth in 1:53.25; however, he missed the Big East standard by less than half a second and will be racing again this weekend to shave off that extra time.

The 1500-meter field was heavy with Villanova runners. A total of 10 Wildcats ran the event. Running away from the field for first, second and third place respectively were senior Tom Parlapiano (3:45.08), freshman Kippy Keino (3:45.89) and freshman Bobby Curtis (3:47.21). All three runners met the Regional standard as well as the Big East standard.

Michael Baird crossed the line in 3:55.21 for 10th place and qualified for Big East.

Freshman Drew Eckman was impressive in the 400-meter hurdles beating the rest of the field by two seconds in a time of 52.35 seconds. The time was more than three seconds under the Big East standard and met the Regional standard.

Freshman Robert McDade threw the shot 15.05 meters to just make the Big East standard of 15.00 meters. McDade also threw the discus and was very impressive with his best throw of 52.18 meters, getting him into the Big East Championships and the Regional Championships. The multi-talented McDade also qualified for Big Easts in the hammer throw with a toss of 46.86 meters.

Ben Heebner and Ryan Vealy both qualified for Big Easts in the javelin throwing 59.33 and 55.93, respectively.

The women’s team did not take as many athletes to the invitational as the men’s team, but they also had some good performances. Nicole Bridgewood placed second in the 200 meter dash in 25.88, and she won the 400-meter dash in 57.02.

In the 800-meter run, Holly Cosnett and Juliette Kenny placed first and second running 2:12.90 and 2:12.86 respectively. Cosnett’s time meets the qualifying standard for Big Easts.

Claudine Evangelista was third in the 1500 with a time of 4:40.72. Monique Morgan won the 100-meter hurdles in 13.82, qualified for Regionals and Big Easts. Her teammate Sherian Byam came in second in 14.07 and qualified for Big Easts.

Michelle Ezzie vaulted 11 feet six inches to qualify for Big Easts, and took second in the pole vault. Nia Cooper triple jumped 11.39 meters to take first place and qualify for Big East as well.

Jamie Styger was fourth in the women’s javelin with a throw of 35.51 meters and meeting the standard for the Big East Championships.

Today the Wildcats run in the Penn Relays, where they’ve had much success in the past, winning more trophies than any other university.