Over a Saturday evening in Staten Island, eight Wildcats from men’s track and field put up personal best times. 

In the mile, junior distance runner Nick Steele finished first with a time of 4:00.71, wiping nearly four seconds off his personal best mark and taking over the Big East lead for the season. Sophomore Charlie O’Donovan came in right behind him with a personal best mark of 4:02.27, as the two Wildcats took the top two spots. 

Senior Logan Wetzel made his 2020 debut, posting a time of 4:12.04 in his first run since last summer’s NCAA Championships. Redshirt freshman Patrick Spychalski recorded a personal best time of 4:19.40.

In the 3000m, the Wildcats had two runners establish new personal bests. Junior Paul Nichols and redshirt freshman Patrick Craemer came in 10th and 12th, respectively, with times of 8:29.69 and 8:36.53. 

In the final distance event of the day, freshman Miller Anderson secured a first-place finish in the 1000m with a personal best time of 2:27.18. Redshirt freshman Nick Ackerman came in 10th place, with a personal best time of 2:32.25.

In the field events, junior thrower Billy Loewen had his best showing of the season, coming in fifth in the shot put with a distance of 15.46 meters and a mark of 14.91 meters in the weight throw. Loewen now sits at 10th place on the all-time Villanova performance list. Junior high jumper Ryan Tompkins cleared a height of 1.92 meters in the high jump and sophomore Jim Keys cleared the bar at a height of 4.45 meters in the pole vault. 

Next, the Wildcats compete in the Sykes & Sabock Challenge at Penn State next Friday.