By Samuel Carella

Staff Reporter

Villanova’s men and women track and field teams both had great starts to their indoor seasons at the U.S. Coaches Association Meet at Penn State. There were a number of notable performances for each team. Generally, Villanova’s track and field teams do not place much importance on the overall team standings in early meets like this one. This meet was no different, but the women still managed to place third overall.

The most notable performances for the women included Marina Muncan placing first in the women’s mile run in a time of 4:52.54, and easily qualifying herself for the Big East Championships in Syracuse, N.Y., Carre Joyce ran 5:06.88 in the mile run, earning a spot on the line for the Big East Championships.

In the 1,000-meter run, Ioana Parusheva, Rebecca Mitchell, and Colleen Taylor placed first, second and fourth respectively. They posted times of 2:49.35, 2:51.72, and 2:53.73, all earning a ticket to Syracuse on Feb. 21. The 3,000 meter-run also resulted in an excellent performance, this time by Kirsty Smith who ran the race in 9:42.70. She too qualified for Big East.

There were also impressive performances on the sprinting side with Yolanda Malcom finishing first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8:62, and Freshman Monique Morgan placing third in 8:85. Melanie Rhoden ran 1:16.80 for the 500-meter event to place eighth. Finally, Kourtney Marquis placed fifth in the pole vault, clearing a height of 10 feet 11.75 inches.

Overall, the women had a great day with a total of 10 Villanova women qualifying to run in the Big East Championships. As a team the women also won the 4×800 meter relay and the distance medley relay.

“I thought the team competed really well and it was a great first meet for everyone,” women’s head coach Gina Procaccio said. “It was great to see Villanovans in the front of the pack where they belong.”

The results were no less impressive on the men’s side. The men had a total of six athletes qualify for the Big East Championships with one qualifying for two events.

Qualifiers included Carlos Bedoya, Drew Eckman, Marc Pelerin, Paul Moser, Jason Jabaut and Robert McDade who qualified in both the weight throw and the shot put.

Carlos Bedoya placed fifth in the 200 meters in 21.70 seconds. Drew Eckman ran an impressive time in the 500 meters, posting a time of 1:02.49, and defeating Georgetown senior James Graham for second place. Marc Pelerin had a good day with a personal record in the mile run finishing second in 4:12.01. Senior Paul Moser continued his dominance in the 800-meters running away from the field with 150 meters to go finishing in 1:50.08. Jason Jabaut finished fifth in the 3,000 meter run in 8:23.62. The impressive Robert McDade threw well in both the shot put and the 35-pound weight throw with tosses of 50 feet 10 inches and 51 feet 5 inches respectively.

Things are looking good for the ‘Cats after only their first meet of the season. The men also had a Big East-caliber performance in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:12.07, run by Bobby Curtis, Michael Botti, Brian Anderson and Andrew Keino.

This race was the only race for Curtis and Keino who are looking good for strong individual efforts in the next meet. Next week in State College, Pa., they will be racing again.