This past weekend, Villanova men and women’s track competed in the Raleigh Relays, at the Paul Derr Track & Field Facility.
The three day meet commenced on Thursday, March 27 in Raleigh, NC. A new NCAA record was set by fifth year Liam Murphy in the 1,500 meter race with a time of 3:33.02. Junior Marco Langon came in right behind Murphy at 3:33.08, marking the second best time in collegiate history.
Later that night, sophomore Nick Sullivan set a new PR in the 10,000 meter race, coming in at 29:09.13. Sophomore CJ Sullivan lowered his PR by 12 seconds at 13:36.04.
Also on Thursday, a quartet of men’s distance runners achieved personal bests in the 5,000 meter race.
Sophomore Bailey Habler had a third-place finish out of 233 runners in the 5k. Habler’s time of 13:28.55 landed him No. 6 in school history. Senior Devon Comber lowered his previous record by more than nine seconds with a new 5k time of 13:36.28. Comber reached 13th place as well as No. 7 in Villanova history.
“In the five, you had Bailey leading the group,” O’Sullivan said. “That was really good with a big PR. And then you had Devin Comber, who…can be up and down at times, but I think he kind of got it right this weekend and that was a really good run for him, too.”
Australian freshman Charlie Moore also achieved a PR in the 5k, with a time of 13:53.17.
On the women’s side, four Wildcats ran personal bests in the 1,500 meter race. Freshman Bella Walsh led the Wildcats to No. 25 out of 227 entries with a time of 4:19.99. Freshman Rosie Shay ran her personal best, coming in at 4:20.40. With a time of 4:24.01, sophomore Tilly O’Connor had the best race of her career. The last of the four runners was senior Emily Robinson who came in at 4:25.63.
Two sophomores claimed personal bests in the 400 meter race. Ethan Walls had a time of 48.08 in the men’s race and Olivia Allen had a time of 54.70 in the women’s race. Allen now sits at No. 8 on the all-time Villanova performance list and achieved 11th place in her event.
Sixth-year Adria Retter came in at third place in the discus event by throwing a distance of 51.39m. Sophomore Parker Turner reached a personal best in the 200 meter, at 21.38. Junior Sal Baretta also ran a PR of 54.87 in the 400 meter hurdles.
Fifth-year Justin Miller set a lifetime record in long jump on Saturday and third place overall, jumping 7.37 meters. Walsh ran again in the 800 meter to achieve her second PR of the weekend. She crossed the finish line at 2:08.32.
“Coming off this weekend… a lot of the guys that race this weekend won’t race [the] next one,” O’Sullivan said. “We usually don’t race them two weekends in a row. So it’ll be kind of a mix and match. So you get half the team training one weekend, half the other, depending on the caliber.”
Several Wildcats will return to track this weekend. On Saturday, April 6, Villanova will compete at the Sam Howell Invitational in Princeton, NJ.
The competition starts at 4 p.m., with the women’s unseeded 5k race at Princeton’s Weaver Track Stadium. The meet can be livestreamed on FloTrack.
