PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Villanova had three men's distance runners competing at Franklin Field on Thursday night as the Wildcats opened up competition at the 124th running of the Penn Relays Carnival. It was distance night on Thursday and Villanova had entries in both the 10000 meters and the 5000 meters. Redshirt freshman Martin Barr (Skokie, Ill.) recorded a 15th place finish in his first collegiate 10K track race, while sophomore Paul Power (Phoenixville, Pa.) and redshirt freshman Rob Morro (Media, Pa.) posted strong finishes in their heat of the 5000 meters.

Barr registered a time of 30:48.27 to place 15th in the 10000 meters, which was the final event of the night and ended just before midnight. A field of 29 runners started the race and Barr registered a strong finish in only his second race of the outdoor season. He had previously run the 5000 meters at the Raleigh Relays last month. His only prior race of 10,000 meters came in cross country during the fall, and his debut in the event on the track continued to show his promise in the longer distance events.

Earlier in the evening, Power recorded a personal best time of 14:22.35 in the 5000 meters and Morro recorded a time of 14:32.66. Power finished seventh in his heat and 26th overall out of 96 runners while lowering his personal best for the second straight race. He cut 20 seconds off the previous time of 14:42.84 that he had run at the Raleigh Relays earlier in the outdoor season. Morro finished 19th in the same heat as Power and also ranked in the top half of the field overall.