On Saturday, March 21, Villanova’s track and field teams commenced their outdoor seasons at the Penn Challenge in Philadelphia. The meet allowed athletes to compete on a smaller-scale, less competitive stage.
The women’s runners dominated the mile and 800-meter races. Freshman Sophia McInnes ran a 4:38.49 mile, claiming first place. Freshman Gabby Pistner finished first in the 800-meter with a time of 2:11.43.
“It was competitive for developing freshmen,” women’s head coach Gina Procaccio said. “It was an opportunity where you’re coming into a division one program, especially like Villanova, you know, it’s hard to win a race. They were able to be pushed and be competitive and still come out on top in their races.”
Freshman Zoe Mosher finished second in the mile with a personal best time of 4:29.95. Freshman Maeve Smith also earned a personal best in the mile with a fourth-place finish of 4:32.65. Junior Therese Trainor rounded out the personal bests earned in the event with a 4:42.89 finish.
Freshman Ty Hoffmann made his collegiate debut in the men’s 400-meter, finishing fourth place with a 49.32 finish. Junior Matthew Griffin earned fifth place in the event, finishing in 49.35.
During the 800-meter, Smith earned another personal best, finishing in fourth place in 2:17.06. Only six-tenths of a second behind her was Mosher. Her 2:17.66 finish earned her fifth place and another personal best at the meet. Senior Kinsey Pogue put up her fastest collegiate time in the event at 2:22.99.
Villanova had several field athletes with top-five performances.
Graduate student Tristan Bolinsky earned fourth place in the hammer throw at 56.88 meters. He returned to the field to receive fifth place in discus, throwing 46.85 meters. Freshman Yianni Papanikolas finished fifth in the shot put at 16.03 meters.
“People that were at nationals, they need a few weeks off,” men’s head coach Marcus O’Sullivan said. “This is where it becomes taxing on coaches because you’re not all in sync and you’re trying to do the best you can to kind of accommodate athletes that may need the jumps or may need the hurdles or may need the sprints.”
Outdoor meets in the early weeks of the season allow less experienced athletes to perform at lower stakes, thus giving them better opportunities to place.
“As a coach, you’re just catching your breath because you’re just coming back from Nationals,” O’Sullivan said. “You’re starting already, but not with your National group, with the group that’s been off for a few weeks.”
Freshman Jesslyn Bentum recorded a personal best of 11.55 meters in shot put to get second place. Freshman Mariana Lopez del Valle had a personal best in long jump after placing fourth at 5.56 meters. In her collegiate debut, freshman Hallie Kees earned third place in the javelin at 39.66 meters.
Freshman Jonathan Evans recorded a personal record in discus at 42.80 meters.
“There’s some freshmen [that] are coming off of high school where you pretty much race every single weekend, and you’d race like two or three events,” Procaccio said. They probably just need a little bit more races to get going.”
This weekend, Villanova track and field will compete in the Raleigh Relays and the Danny Curran Invitational. The two-day relays will begin on Thursday, March 26, and boast a competitive pool of women’s distance runners. The men’s and women’s teams will also compete in the Danny Curran Invitational in Chester, PA, from Friday, March 27, to Saturday, March 28.
