Junior Liam Murphy is smashing records, again.

Murphy set the meet record and recorded the top time in the East Region in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:39.42 on Friday night at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Weaver Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

Murphy’s time is more than two seconds faster than his time last weekend in Durham, North Carolina.

The time he created is well below the sub four-minute mile equivalent of 3:42.20. Murphy and senior Sean Dolan are the only two runners currently on the roster to break the 3:42.20 sub four-minute mile equivalent.

Villanova’s men’s track and field coach Marcus O’Sullivan is impressed with how quickly Murphy has ascended to this elite level.

“[Murphy] is really very talented,” O’Sullivan said. “The last year was the coming of age for him.”

Graduate student Charlie O’Donovan finished right behind Murphy with a time of 3:40.68. This was a personal best time for O’Donovan, who beat his previous best mark by almost three tenths of a second.

Murphy and O’Donovan went back-and-forth with the lead for the first three laps, with Murphy prevailing as he made the final move on the last lap.

“Charlie is very consistent in terms of he can run well from the front,” O’Sullivan said.

Sophomore Sean Donoghue finished the race impressively, with a time of 3:43.94, which won the heat that he was in.

Donoghue finished seventh out of 56 runners. For his second race in the last eight to 10 months, this time is remarkable.

“He was a bit disappointed on the weekend,” O’Sullivan said. “I was actually very happy with him.” 

He had the lead for the majority of the race but was passed in the slower heat of the 800-meter and fought to maintain a solid time.

The 800-meter event featured Dolan, who posted the fastest time for the ‘Cats, 1:47.33. With this time, he won the event, putting himself in third place in the East Region and in the top slot for the Big East standings.

“His best parts come in [kind of] more like May and June, so these are early races for him,” O’Sullivan said about Dolan’s progression.

Other finishers for ‘Nova in the 800-meters included senior Miller Anderson with a time of 1:50.88, and graduate student Trevor Potts posted a time of 1:55.82. 

In the men’s 5000-meter race, freshman Marco Langon, who ran unattached, posted a time of 13:47.42 to win the event. Langon is redshirting for the 2023 outdoor season.

“I think what [Langon] was happy about was just being able to race and to win, which is a big incentive for him,” O’Sullivan said.

Graduate student Josh Phillips and graduate student Haftu Strintzos both ran strong times in the 5000-meter event. Phillips came in third with a time of 13:51.55, and Strintzos finished one spot behind Phillips in fourth with a time of 13:53.79.

Many of the athletes will be resting in preparation for the Penn Relays in two weeks. The sprinting portion of the Princeton meet was canceled due to severe weather, so the sprinters are attempting to race in Virginia.

The ‘Cats will continue in Virginia next weekend for the Virginia Challenge at Lannigan Field.