JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Sophomore distance runner Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) and senior thrower Jack Judge (Palisades, N.Y.) competed for Villanova on the second day of the NCAA East Preliminary at Hodges Stadium on Friday.  Steele ran in the national quarterfinal heats of the 3000 meter steeplechase and Judge was in action in the first round of the javelin. 
 
The final event of the night was the men's steeplechase, in which Steele ran in the third of three heats.  He recorded a time of 8:59.41 to place eighth in his heat and 22^nd overall out of 48 runners who qualified for the regional meet.  It is the third time in his career that Steele has crossed the finish line in under nine minutes in the steeplechase, and his overall finish is 10 spots higher than where he placed as a redshirt freshman last season. 
 
Steele qualified for the East Preliminary with a time of 8:58.04 at the Mason Spring Invite last month and went on to finish second in the steeplechase at the BIG EAST Championships two weeks ago.  It was the second straight year that he earned All-BIG EAST honors in the event, and he has now closed each of his first two official collegiate seasons by advancing to postseason competition.  He is the Wildcats first runner to qualify for an outdoor regional meet in the steeplechase in consecutive years since Dan Lewis in 2009-10. 
 
Villanova bookended Friday's event schedule, as Judge competed in the javelin which was the first event of the day.  The best of his throws came on the second of three attempts when he recorded a distance of 59.26 meters.  Judge also threw for 58.39 meters on his first attempt and had a throw of 59.04 meters to finish the day.  He placed 10^th in his flight and 37^th overall in his second appearance in as many seasons at the East Preliminary meet. 
 
Judge concluded an outstanding collegiate career with Friday's competition.  He was the BIG EAST champion in the javelin in each of the last two seasons and recorded top-three finishes in the conference meet all four years of his career.  Judge is the Wildcats first thrower to be a four-time All-BIG EAST javelin thrower since Barry Flicker from 1998-01.  In addition to his own success, Judge has been the leader of a Villanova throwing group which has been on a consistent upward trajectory in recent seasons.  During his time on the team, the Wildcats scored in every outdoor throwing event (shot put, discus, hammer, javelin) at each of the last four BIG EAST Championship meets. 
 
One day of competition remains at the NCAA East Preliminary on the University of North Florida campus.  Villanova has four athletes in competition on Saturday, beginning with sophomore Jacob Kelly (Longmeadow, Mass.) in the high jump at 4 p.m.  Juniors Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.) and Logan Wetzel (Saline, Mich.) will be on the track for the quarterfinal heats of the 1500 meters at 6:45 p.m., while sophomore Martin Barr (Skokie, Ill.) will run in the national semifinal heats of the 5000 meters at 8:45 p.m.