GENEVA, Ohio—Junior distance runners Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.) and Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.) shared a smile as they pulled off a 1-2 finish in the 5000 meters and Villanova also won the distance medley relay as competition got underway in the BIG EAST Championships at the SPIRE Institute on Friday afternoon.  Marston won his first career individual conference title with a time of 14:18.32 and the Wildcats had three of the top four finishers in the 5000 meters.  Villanova also came in first in the DMR, as the lineup of freshman Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia), junior Konrad Bayer (Naperville, Ill.), freshman Trevor Potts (Sparta, N.J.) and sophomore Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) won in 9:50.45. 
 
It was a successful day overall for the Wildcats, who are currently in second place in the team standings with 60 points.  More than half of the team's points came from the 5000 meters and the distance medley relay.  Villanova also tallied a 2-3 finish in the pole vault, had three point scorers in the long jump and one in the weight throw. 
 
Marston and Comber glided down the final straightaway in the 5000 meters with a comfortable margin over the rest of the field.  Comber was second in 14:18:59 and sophomore Martin Barr (Skokie, Ill.) finished fourth with a time of 14:24.44.  Villanova has now won eight titles in the 5000 meters at the indoor conference meet, with Comber preceding Marston as last year's champion. 
 
"It feels great," Marston said of the win.  "Coming into this meet we were looking for a team championship, so I just tried to put myself and my teammates in the best position possible to snag some points.  I was running pretty steady until about [1000 meters] to go and I just tried to hammer it home.  Coming down the home straight Casey said to me 'we got him, we broke him' and that was a huge relief.  That was a highlight looking back, and from there I knew we had it.  Seeing Casey finish right behind me and then seeing Marty come in fourth was exactly what we wanted."
 
Junior Thomas Conboy (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and freshman Jim Keys (Herndon, Va.) each made the awards podium in the pole vault.  Conboy tied his season and lifetime best with a height of 4.75 meters to finish in second place, while Keys had a successful attempt at 4.55 meters to come in third.  It was Conboy's second time on the awards podium at the indoor BIG EAST Championships, as he previously came in third as a freshman two years ago.  He was also the outdoor champion outdoors in 2017. 
 
The trio of sophomore Michael Troup (Doylestown, Pa.), junior Steve Testa (Warminster, Pa.) and sophomore Vincent Sengelmann provided the Wildcats with crucial points in the long jump.  Troup came in fourth, with his mark of 6.99 meters matching his best collegiate distance which he had also recorded at the FastTrack National Invitational in New York earlier this month.  Testa placed seventh with a measurement of 6.69 meters, while Sengelmann was eighth with a nearly identical mark of 6.68 meters. 
 
Junior thrower Jadyn Anczarski (Ringtown, Pa.) had a huge personal best in the weight throw, placing fourth with a distance of 16.33 meters.  Anczarski had not thrown for more than 15 meters prior to this season, but he established a new top mark of 15.15 meters in the season-opening meet at Navy in January.  He easily surpassed that on Friday, and his mark of 16.33 meters moves him into fourth place on Villanova's all-time performance list in the weight throw. 
 
In addition to their event scorers in Friday's action, the Wildcats set themselves up for success on Saturday by advancing several athletes to the finals of their respective events.  Graduate transfer Troy Gallen (Glen Mills, Pa.) was the fastest qualifier for the final in the 60 meters with a time of 6.87, and he also advanced in the 200 meters after registering a personal best time of 21.79.  Sophomore sprinter Amir Brock (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J.) also moved on in the 200 meters, while sophomore Keegan Hughes (Malvern, Pa.) and senior Ville Lampinen (Vantaa, Finland) are qualifiers in the 400 meters.  Steele, Comber and freshman Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) advanced to the final of the Mile.