UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.—It was a successful day in all areas of competition for Villanova as 16 members of the team were in action in the Sykes & Sabock Challenge at Penn State on Saturday afternoon. Strong results in the 200 meters, the pole vault and the weight throw highlighted the day at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.
Freshman sprinter
Anthony Brodie (Bronx, N.Y.) and junior
Richie Bush (Lawnside, N.J.) became the 10
th and 11
th runners in Wildcats history to break 22 seconds indoors in the 200 meters. Brodie was the runner-up out of 20 competitors with a time of 21.73 to put himself into sixth place on the program's all-time indoor performance list in the 200 meters. Bush crossed the finish line in 21.87 to maintain his position in 10
th place on that list while recording a new indoor PR in the process.
All four Villanova entries in the 200 meters finished in the top 10. Junior
Keegan Hughes (Malvern, Pa.) notched a lifetime personal best mark of 22.07 and junior
Amir Brock (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J.) recorded a time of 22.26. Earlier in the day Brodie, Brock and senior
Dan Powers (Chadds Ford, Pa.) competed in the 400 meters. Brodie finished second in that event as well with a time of 48.22 while Brock and Powers had marks of 50.04 and 50.24, respectively.
The day started with redshirt freshman
Dylan Henry (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) running a season-best 7.07 in the preliminary heats of the 60 meter dash.
Senior
Logan Wetzel (Saline, Mich.) led four Wildcats who ran in the 800 meters. Wetzel tallied an indoor PR of 1:50.19 to finish second out of 21 runners, while freshman
Miller Anderson (West Harford, Conn.) came in fifth with a time of 1:52.53. Junior
Jacob Bonanotte (Barrington, Ill.) and redshirt freshman
Nick Ackerman (Manalapan, N.J.) were clocked in 1:58.94 and 1:59.64, respectively.
The redshirt freshman duo of
Patrick Spychalski (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) and
Patrick Craemer (Upton, Mass.) each posted personal bests in the Mile. Spychalski registered a time of 4:14.47 and crossed the finish line nearly five full seconds faster than he did while recording his previous top mark of 4:19.40 at the Villanova Invitational last week. He came in 11
th at Saturday's meet, with Craemer close behind him in 13
th place with a PR of 4:16.13.
Sophomore
Jim Keys (Herndon, Va.) had a big day in the pole vault and cleared the bar at a height of 4.76 meters. That was 11 centimeters higher than his previous indoor and lifetime best mark. Keys lifted himself into sixth place on Villanova's all-time indoor performance list in the pole vault and also put himself eighth on the program's combined indoor and outdoor performance list. He came into the competition when the bar was at 4.46 meters, and cleared that height as well as 4.61 meters on his second attempts. Keys made it over at 4.76 meters on his third and final try before missing at 4.91 meters, a height which only four previous Wildcats have achieved.
The throwing trio of senior
Jadyn Anczarski (Ringtown, Pa.), junior
Billy Loewen (Sparta, N.J.) and senior
Chika Nwachukwu (Lawrence, N.J.) had strong results in the weight throw. Anczarski tallied the second-longest throw of his career and was just six centimeters off a PR with a mark of 16.27 meters. Loewen notched a personal best for the second straight week and measured a throw of 15.51 meters. His best throw came on the third and final attempt, and it moved him up three spots into seventh place on the Wildcats all-time indoor performance list. Nwachukwu had a mark of 13.58 meters in the weight throw, while Loewen also had a measurement of 13.70 meters in the shot put.
Villanova is back in action next weekend and will split up for competition in both New York (FastTrack National Invitational) and Boston (David Hemery Valentine Invitational).
