Photo Gallery

Meet Results

TAMPA, Fla.--Senior middle distance runner Ben Malone (River Vale, N.J.) finished second in his heat of the 1500 meters and advanced into the national quarterfinals during the first day of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary on Thursday afternoon. Villanova had three events on Thursday's schedule at the USF Track & Field Stadium. Sophomore distance runner Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.) closed the night with a strong 19th place finish in the national semifinals of the 10000 meters, while junior sprinter Harry Purcell (Dublin, Ireland) ran the 800 meters in 1:50.29 and finished eighth in his national first round heat.

It took a strong final lap in the second of four heats of the 1500 meters for Malone to assure himself an automatic qualifying spot to the national quarterfinal round. The first five finishers in each heat and the next four fastest times advanced, and Malone began his kick from near the back of the pack with just under 300 meters to go before the finish line. After an initial surge coming down the back straightaway he picked up additional ground going around the curve and moved into qualifying position going into the final turn.

The first eight runners across the finish line were separated by less than eight-tenths of a second in a crowded finish. Malone had his position firmly established with 25 meters to go and wound up second at the line, crossing just three-hundredths of a second behind Waleed Suliman of Ole Miss. Joseph Murphy of Indiana was one-tenth of a second behind Malone, followed by two other runners from Ole Miss in fourth and fifth. The spread between those five automatic qualifiers was just 0.4 seconds.

Malone is competing at the NCAA East Preliminary for the third time in his career. He previously reached the quarterfinal round of the 800 meters as a freshman in 2015 and reached the NCAA Championships in the 1500 meters two years ago. The national quarterfinal heats are scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

The final event of the night was the 10000 meters, with the men's race starting just before 10 p.m. following a short weather delay when lightning moved through the area. Marston recorded a time of 30:03.84 and placed 19th out of the 48 athletes who started the race. He settled into the middle of the pack early in the race and held his ground throughout the 25 laps around the track. The official results after the race had Marston with a split of 4:44.62 for the first 1600 meters and 4:55.03 for the final 1600 meters.

Marston emerged as one of the Wildcats top performers this season and closed out a strong outdoor campaign with Thursday night's race. He recorded a 10K time of 29:26.05 earlier this season to surge into sixth place on Villanova's all-time performance list in his first career track race in the event. Marston then dropped down in distance and ran a leg on the Wildcats champion 4xMile relay squad at the Penn Relays. He was the runner-up in the 5000 meters at the BIG EAST Championships earlier this month.

In the second of six heats in the first round of the 800 meters, Purcell placed eighth in his heat after the field of eight runners furiously jostled for position with 50 meters to go. There was little separation in the pack for the first 600 meters, with the pace really picking up just before the final turn. Purcell made an early move for the front of the pack before winding up eighth at the finish line. He closed his season on a strong note with his first career appearance in the early rounds of the national championships.

After posting his qualifying time for this meet in the 800 meters at the Florida Relays in March, he was unable to compete again until the BIG EAST Championships just two weeks ago. Purcell competed in the 400 meters at the conference meet and notched a fifth place finish before preparing for the 800 meters this week.

The lone event on the Villanova schedule on Friday is the national quarterfinal round of the 3000 meter steeplechase. Redshirt freshman Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) will be competing for the Wildcats, with the steeplechase scheduled for an 8 p.m. start.