Villanova’s men’s track and field team had one event winner on Saturday, April 1st, at the Big 5 Invitational at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, junior Nicholas Mollica in the 400-meter hurdles.

Molllica, who was running the event for the second time this season, posted a time of 53.52, to defeat a field of nine runners. Mollica shaved almost seven-tenths of a second off his time from the Penn Challenge two weeks ago.

“I think it’s [kind of] standard to see this progression based on the fact that he’s just getting a little more familiar with executing his race plans, you know, but he’s a talented athlete,” associate head coach Anthony Williams said. “He’s making good progress for sure.”

An impressive performer all season has been freshman walk-on Amari Prescod, who posted a time of 10.78 in the 100-meter dash for a third-place finish. In the 200-meter dash, Prescod recorded a time of 21.85, which put him in fourth place. 

“He’s been a surprise and we’re grateful for that,” Williams said. “He’s from Trinidad, so it’s a country that’s very competitive in track and field, so he’s seen some good athletes.”

Freshman Jimmy Milgie finished with a time of 48.55 in the 400-meters, good for the runner-up position.

“He’s [been] making good progress all year, putting some good work in, and growing as an athlete,” Williams said. “Not really anything surprising we’re seeing here.”

Junior Jakob Kuzner came in with a time of 49.05 for a fifth-place finish. Other runners who posted personal bests in this event were freshman Luke Rakowitz with a time of 49.37 and junior William Seijas with a time of 50.90.

In the 1500-meter event, fifth-year Evan Addison, redshirt freshman Devon Comber and senior Miller Anderson combined to finish second, third and fourth. Addison posted a time of 3:48.39, and Comber and Anderson made personal bests with 3:49.46 and 3:49.51, respectively.

“Whenever you have a competitive team, everyone rises up,” Williams said about the depth of the distance runners promoting competition. “It’s just making everyone around them better because everyone wants to be a part of it.”

Fifth-year Henry Myers posted a time of 3:50.39 to finish seventh, and fifth-year Ben Seiple created a personal best of 3:51.86.

In the field, freshman Daelyn Nwaobasi set another personal best for the second time in two weeks with a mark of 6.65 meters in the long jump. Sophomore Tristan Bolinsky threw the hammer 50.33 meters to place third and threw the discus 45.36 meters to place seventh.

Junior thrower Nick Coffey was named the Big East Athlete of the Week as a result of his performance at the Raleigh Relays. He threw the javelin to a mark of 63.99 meters, putting him at the top of the Big East standings for that event. He did not compete this week.

Next week, the men will travel to Duke for the Duke Invitational and Miami for the Miami Alumni Invitational.

The sprinters will be heading down to Miami, which will include Mollica, Milgie and Prescod. The jumpers and throwers will also be in Miami, as graduate student jumper Malik Cunningham will make his outdoor season debut.