NEW YORK—Villanova opened competition at the Dr. Sander/Columbia Challenge with a total of nine athletes in competition on Friday afternoon.  On the schedule for the first day of competition was the preliminary heats of the 60 meter dash, along with the long jump and shot put at New York Armory. 
 
Graduate transfer Troy Gallen (Glen Mills, Pa.) had the top result of the day for the Wildcats and finished ninth in the 60 meters with a personal best time of 6.91.  The former college football player at Delaware had made his Villanova debut earlier this month when he ran 6.93 at Navy, a mark which had put him into fifth place on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the 60 meter dash.  He moved up a spot into a tie for fourth place with Friday's new personal top time. 
 
Gallen finished third in his heat and was ninth among the 35 competitors in the preliminary round, and he was a mere one-hundredth of a second away from advancing to the final.  Three of the four Villanova competitors in the 60 meters recorded personal best times.  Sophomore Michael Troup (Doylestown, Pa.) lowered his time to 7.20, junior Ike Osuagwu (Wilmington, Del.) registered a time of 7.33 and junior Steve Testa (Warminster, Pa.) tallied a personal best time of 7.34. 
 
Earlier in the afternoon, Troup and Testa had also led three Wildcats in the long jump.  Troup recorded a mark of 6.78 meters and finished 12^th among 21 competitors, while Testa measured a distance of 6.59 meters.  Sophomore Vincent Sengelmann had a jump of 6.32 meters. 
 
Senior thrower Henry Sise (Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) led four Villanova athletes in the shot put with a throw of 14.98 meters.  He placed 14^th overall in the competition and was followed by sophomore Billy Loewen (Sparta, N.J.), junior Chika Nwachukwu (Lawrence, N.J.) and sophomore Alex Telma (St. Louis, Mo.).  Loewen threw for 13.24 meters, Nwachukwu had a mark of 12.80 meters and Telma threw for a distance of 12.48 meters. 
 
Villanova continues competition on Saturday morning, when the team's first event will be the 3000 meters at 10:11 a.m.  The highlight of the day should come in an exciting men's 4xMile relay at 1:46 p.m.  The Wildcats are expected to compete in that race alongside Duke, Columbia and two professional club teams.