TAMPA, Fla. - Senior middle distance runner Ben Malone (River Vale, N.J.) is headed back to the NCAA Championships after posting the fastest qualifying time in the national quarterfinal round of the 1500 meters on Saturday afternoon. Malone won his heat in 3:43.38 at USF Track & Field Stadium and will now advance to the national meet in Eugene, Ore. next month for the second time in his career. He previously ran in the 1500 meters at the national championships two years ago.

Malone was one of three Villanova athletes in competition on Saturday, as junior thrower Jack Judge (Palisades, N.Y.) competed in the first round of the javelin and sophomore distance runner Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.) ran in the national semifinal heats of the 5000 meters. Judge placed seventh in his flight and Comber finished seventh in his heat.

"I'm thrilled to be going back to Eugene," Malone said. "It is definitely a relief. You come here [to regionals] and you kind of have nothing to gain and everything to lose. I wanted to get through the prelims with as little effort as possible, and then today in the final you've got to leave everything out there. Fortunately I was able to come out with the win."

There was little separation in the pack of 12 runners in the first of two quarterfinal heats until midway through the last lap. Malone was nevertheless near the back of the pack during the middle stages of the race, officially in 10th place with 800 meters to go and in eighth place when the bell sounded. Only the top five finishers in the heat earned an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA Championships, while two others advanced on time. Both of the on-time qualifiers came from the second heat.

Malone made his move as the pack raced down the back straightaway and wound up closing in 54.23 for his final 400 meters. That was the fastest final lap in the field, and he edged Justine Kiprotich of Michigan State at the line to win the heat by just over a tenth of a second. The five automatic qualifiers from the first heat were separated by less than seven-tenths of a second at the finish line. Malone's time of 3:43.38 is the second-fastest he has run during the collegiate season and his fourth-fastest time overall.

"I was feeling really good with about 400 to go," Malone said. "I knew I was pretty far back, but I made my way around everyone with 250 to go and I was feeling really good. Marcus had told me a few different times to run all the way through the line so I made sure I did that. All year I've worked on my strength and it's kind of shown in the last 75-100 meters that it's all there and I can keep it. It's helped me during that last straightaway to keep moving and keep kicking for as long as possible."

Judge competed in a steady driving rain in the first of three flights of the javelin. He recorded a mark of 57.37 meters on his third and final throw to place seventh in his flight and 34th overall. Advancing to this week's East preliminary meet was a rewarding finish to the season for Judge, who was the BIG EAST champion in the javelin with a personal best throw of 65.28 meters. He has now been a three-time All-BIG EAST performer and is third on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the javelin. Judge is the first Villanova thrower to compete at an NCAA preliminary meet since 2008, and the first men's field athlete since 2015 to reach the East preliminary meet.

"A meet like this is a great time to put this whole journey so far into perspective," Judge said. "Coming into Villanova as a walk-on, my best mark was 50 meters. To get here with a personal best mark of 65 meters and being a BIG EAST champion, those were goals I set for myself. It's not about necessarily the numbers, but it's about the effort I made to get here. I'm so ecstatic to be representing the throwers and just trying to do the best I can to be a leader and a trailblazer for other guys and girls on the team."

The final competitor on the track for Villanova was Comber, who ran in the second of two semifinal heats in the 5000 meters on Saturday night. He recorded a time of 14:23.64 to come in seventh in his heat and 20th overall among the field of qualifiers for this week's meet. Comber was the BIG EAST champion in the 5000 meters and made his debut at the NCAA East Preliminary. He also anchored the Wildcats to wins in both the distance medley relay and the 4xMile relay at the Penn Relays last month.

Villanova qualified a total of 16 athletes for this week's NCAA preliminary meet, including six from the men's team. Each of the six competed in a different event, with the Wildcats fielding entries in every distance event from 800 meters through 10000 meters in addition to Judge competing in the javelin.

"It's amazing to have as many people as we have here," Malone said. "It's a testament to how hard everyone works. I haven't seen a javelin thrower [at regionals] in my time here and I know Jack has worked really hard to get here. It's awesome to see everyone perform at their best during the season and then come here and compete with the best guys in the NCAA."