Complete Results | Villanova Results

VILLANOVA, Pa.--Redshirt freshman Logan Wetzel (Saline, Mich.) won the BIG EAST title in the 1500 meters and also anchored Villanova to a championship in the 4x800 meter relay as the BIG EAST Championships wrapped up at a cold and wet Villanova Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Senior sprinter Kyle Cartwright (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) was the champion of the 400 meter hurdles for the second time in his career and the Wildcats finished third in the team standings to make the awards podium for the fourth straight year.

Villanova scored 136 points and won four different events over two days of competition at the conference meet. Sophomore Colin O'Mara (Little Rock, Ark.) led off the 4x800 relay, with juniors Ben Malone (River Vale, N.Y.) and Ishmael Muhammad (Mays Landing, N.J.) following on the middle legs of the relay before Wetzel got the baton for the anchor leg. In addition to the three events the Wildcats won on Saturday, freshman Thomas Conboy (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) was the pole vault champion in Friday's action.

Wetzel got the day started on a strong note by winning the 1500 meters in 3:52.00 to capture his first career individual BIG EAST title. He crossed the finish line just over a second ahead of Darren Fahy from Georgetown and the rest of the field of 12 runners. He later had a split of 1:52.04 on the anchor leg of the 4x800 relay.

There was an incredible finish to the 400 meter hurdles as Cartwright, Jarvis Hill of DePaul and Chris Van Saders of Marquette all jockeyed for the lead after the final jump. They were each leaning towards the finish line when Cartwright made one final surge to win his second career title in the event with a winning time of 54.46. Hill was second (54.68) and Van Saders third (54.69), with less than a quarter of a second separating the three contenders for the title.

Cartwright previously won the 400 hurdles at the 2015 outdoor BIG EAST meet. He also led off the 4x400 meter relay in which Villanova tallied a third place finish. Cartwright, sophomore Ville Lampinen (Vantaa, Finland), freshman Konrad Bayer (Naperville, Ill.) and sophomore Harry Purcell (Dublin, Ireland) had a time of 3:16.85 in the relay.

Earlier in the day, Lampinen was the runner-up in the 800 meters with a time of 1:54.53 and Muhammad placed third in 1:54.83. Purcell was the runner-up in the 400 meters in 47.57 and recorded his fastest collegiate time in an open 400 meter race.

Villanova took control of the 4x800 relay during the second leg of the race. O'Mara, a senior academically who has had to overcome injuries throughout his collegiate career, ran a strong leadoff leg to help put the Wildcats in contention. Malone ran a split of 1:53.24 on the second leg of the race and had Villanova in front by a 2.5-second margin at the second exchange. Muhammad had a split of 1:55.04 on the third leg to extend the lead before the final handoff.

Sophomore sprinter Sterling Pierce (Voorhees, N.J.) finished second in the 100 meters while also scoring in the 200 meters and running a leg of the 4x100 meter relay. He registered a time of 10.80 in the final of the 100 meters.

Villanova has made the awards podium a total of 16 times over the years at the outdoor BIG EAST meet. With four event championships this year, the Wildcats increased their record total of combined individual and relay titles to 126.