Over the weekend, Villanova track and field returned to Boston, MA to compete in two separate events hosted by Boston College and Boston University.
Sophomore Dan Watcke highlighted the Wildcats’ weekend, breaking his own school record in the 1,000-meter and running the third-fastest indoor time in collegiate history.
Watcke competed in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University. He ran a 2:17.77 to finish second in the 1,000-meter. The time shattered his previous school record of 2:20.10, which he set earlier this season at the Quaker Invitational on Jan. 18.
“I mean, I was expecting something faster [than Watcke’s previous record]…but certainly not three seconds faster,” head coach Marcus O’Sullivan said. “That was incredible, really, what he accomplished last weekend.”
Watcke, who ran his first collegiate indoor race in January, has run in three indoor races this season and has set a new school record in each of them. While his performance in the 1K is the third-fastest indoor time, it is also the fifth-best absolute time in collegiate history.
Watcke now holds the fastest 1,000-meter and 800-meter indoor (1:46.32) times in program history.
On top of Watcke’s huge day, five other Wildcats took part in the 3,000-meter at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational.
Senior Devon Comber and sophomore CJ Sullivan each ran personal best sub-eight minute times in the 3K, posting a 7:55.33 and 7:59.46, respectively. It was the first time Sullivan ran the 3K in fewer than eight minutes.
Redshirt freshman Bailey Habler was just shy of a sub-eight 3K, running an 8:00.08. Redshirt freshmen Nick Sullivan and Kai Mitchell-Reiss rounded out the 3K runners, recording personal best times of 8:14.04 and 8:15.51, respectively.
The rest of the Wildcats participated in the Eagle Elite Invitational.
Junior Luke Rakowitz had a huge performance with personal bests in both the 200 meters and 400 meters. He ran a 48.18 in the 400 meters, marking his second personal best this season. The run put Rakowitz into sixth place on the year’s Big East performance list. He also ran a personal best, 22.14, in the 200 meters.
“[Rakowitz] is a competitor and last year some of his running was down at the Big East [Indoor Championships,” O’Sullivan said. “I think he comes on as the season goes on.”
Senior Justin Miller finished first in the long jump with a distance of 7.10 meters. The distance was just shy of his personal best of 7.13 meters.
On the women’s side of the Eagle Elite Invitational, Villanova had strong races across the meet, including multiple personal records.
Sophomore Olivia Allen ran a career-best 55.80 in the 400 meters. She now has a top-eight time in the Big East this season. Allen’s time shaved off 1.2 seconds of her previous personal best of 57.00.
In the 3,000 meters, senior Margaret Carroll ran her second personal best of the season: a 9:19.45.
Senior Alex Payne threw a season-best in the weight throw. Her throw went a distance of 17.36 meters, which beat her previous season’s best throw by three centimeters. Payne, in only her second year at Villanova, has seven of the 13 longest throws in school history.
Fifth-year Roschell Clayton collected a first-place finish in the high jump with a height of 1.76 meters. It marked Clayton’s third consecutive first-place finish this indoor season.
Next weekend, Villanova will compete in its final meets before the Big East Indoor Championships.
“We will digest this week and we will see where we are as a team,” O’Sullivan said. “We see what we can productively do. That takes a few days to iron out, you’re going to move kids around and put them in different spots in different places. And at the same time, you’re trying to maximize where we could potentially finish. So then the question is, ‘Do we get on the podium? Can we get on the podium?’”
Villanova men’s track and field now prepares for the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN, on Feb. 22.
The women again return to Boston, MA for the Terrier DMR Challenge/Last Chance Meet.
