The men’s track and field team was all over the East Coast this past weekend as the team competed at meets hosted by the University of Florida, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton.

Despite the different locations the athletes were in, the high results were the same. At the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton, junior middle distance runner Sean Dolan won the 1500 meter race, with a time of 3:45.97, in a field of 29 runners. Senior Charlie O’Donovan finished second, with a time of 3:46.37.

Redshirt freshman Cole Walker posted a time of 4:00.54 in the same 1500 meter race. Two other runners ran for Villanova in the 1500 meter race as unattached entries. Freshman Sean Donoghue finished third in the race, with a time of 3:47.77, and freshman Devon Comber recorded a time of 3:51.58.

Junior Mathias Powell won the 3000 meter steeplechase, with a time of 9:08.32. Senior Patrick Spychalski placed third, with a time of 9:16.69. Powell’s winning time puts him in 38th position for the East region qualifying list. This was the first time both distance runners raced in this event this season.

The Villanova distance runners dominated a field of 19 runners in the 5000 meter race. Senior Josh Phillips took the top spot, with a time of 13:49.64. Junior Haftu Strintzos finished right behind Phillips in second place, posting a time of 13:51.28. Graduate runner Ryan Cutter finished fourth, with a personal best time of 14:02.4, and Cutter smashed his old high school personal best by more than 23 seconds.

With these times, Phillips now ranks eighth on the East Region qualifying list, which is used to determine who makes it to the NCAA East Preliminary next month. Strintzos is ranked 11th on that list. In addition, the three distance runners of Phillips, Strintzos and Cutter posted top four times on the Big East leaderboard.

Earlier that day, junior Miller Anderson posted a fifth place finish in the 800 meter race, with a time of 1:51.38. Other middle distance runners who competed in the 800 meter race included senior Trevor Potts, with a time of 1:55.63, sophomore Chris Weeks, who ran 1:57.07 and graduate Jacob Bonanotte, who cemented a time of 2:06.31.

A trio of throwers, sophomore Andrew Grinnell, sophomore Nick Coffey and junior Joe DiDario, competed at the Florida Relays. Their throws were postponed from Thursday evening due to inclement weather. Grinnell placed sixth in his section, with a throw of 59.10 meters. Coffey placed eighth in a recorded throw of 58.76 meter, and DiDario placed ninth with a 56.96 mark. All three athletes rank in the top 10 on the all-time performance list.

Senior pole vaulter Jim Keys posted a top mark of the outdoor season as he cleared the bar at a height of 4.76 meters. Keys failed to clear the 4.91 meter height, which would have broken his personal best of 4.87 meters from last outdoor season. Freshman Tristan Bolinsky and graduate Shane O’Connor competed in the discus. Bolinsky threw for 45.45 meters and O’Connor threw for 41.90 meters. O’Connor also competed in the shot put, throwing for 13.28 meters.

At the Philadelphia Big 5 Meet, sophomore sprinter Jakob Kunzar finished first in the 200 meter dash, with a personal best time of 22.35 seconds, and the 400 meters, with a time of 49.40 seconds. Junior Mac Costonis ran in the 200 and 400 meter race as well, putting up times of 23.05 seconds and 49.78 seconds, respectively. Sophomore William Seijas posted times of 23.05 in the 200 meter race and 51.84 seconds in the 400 meter race. 

Graduate Sosa Omuemu recorded a jump of 6.23 meters, which was good for first place in the long jump. Junior thrower Eduardo Perez threw for 36.19 meters in the discus and 13.60 meters in the shot put.

This upcoming Friday and Saturday, the Wildcats will travel to the University of Miami for the Hurricane Alumni Invitational.