AZUSA, Calif.—On a memorable and historic night for Villanova track & field, the men's middle distance quartet of Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.), Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland), Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) and Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) ran through pouring rain and chilly temperatures at the Bryan Clay Invitational to record blazing fast times in the 1500 meters on Saturday night. Murphy was the headliner with the second-fastest time ever recorded by a Villanovan in a collegiate race. The list of the evening's superlatives is a lengthy and impressive one.
 
It starts with Murphy, who achieved an Automatic 'A' qualifying time for this summer's U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Running in the fastest heat of the 1500 meter invite against both collegiate and professional runners, Murphy surged across the finish line in 3:36.48 to lower his lifetime best by nearly three full seconds. It is the sixth-fastest absolute time in school history and the second-fastest ever run during the collegiate season. Murphy now trails only Sydney Maree (3:35.30) on that list. Maree's time was the NCAA record for nearly 38 years from 1981 to 2018. Murphy's race on Saturday night at Cougar Athletic Stadium featured six runners – half the field, including Murphy – from the final at last year's NCAA Championships.
 
The automatic standard for the Olympic Trials is 3:37.0 and Murphy came in just over half a second under it. As he crossed the finish line on Saturday night Murphy unofficially ranked fifth on this year's NCAA Division I performance list in the 1500 meters, pending the outcomes of other meets around the country this weekend. He has regardless set himself up perfectly for championship competition to come later this season at the NCAA and national levels. The NCAA Championships take place in Eugene, Ore. on June 5 and 7; the Olympic Trials are at the same site from June 21-30.
 
All four Wildcats who competed on Saturday night posted the metric equivalent of sub-four minute miles. Donoghue recorded a time of 3:41.02, followed by Comber in 3:41.32 and O'Donovan with a mark of 3:41.90. Comber won his heat and became the 48^th member of Villanova's vaunted sub-four minute mile club. Donoghue joined that list earlier this year during the indoor season and ran the metric equivalent for the first time on Saturday night.
 
O'Donovan and Murphy are long-standing members of the Wildcats list of sub-four milers. The four dozen athletes who have accomplished the feat include seven members of the current Villanova roster. It is believed to be the first time in program history that the Wildcats have had seven sub-four athletes on the team at one time. Villanova head coach Marcus O'Sullivan has coached 22 of the 48 sub-four Wildcats during his head coaching career. He himself is one of three athletes in history to run a sub-four minute mile more than 100 times.
 
The top athletes in Saturday night's invite section of the 1500 meters were grouped into two fast heats which were equally stacked with top talent. O'Donovan ran in the second of those heats and finished with a time of 3:41.90 in his second 1500 race of the season. He had run 3:39.65 at the Raleigh Relays last month and was the national leader up until this weekend.
 
Donoghue finished second in his heat in 3:41.02 and easily bested his previous personal best of 3:42.45 set at the Virginia Challenge during the 2022 season. He had run a pair of sub-four minute miles during the indoor campaign earlier this year, including 3:58.86 on January 26 at Penn State and 3:58.07 on February 9 in Chicago.
 
The final athlete on the track for Villanova was Comber, who won his heat in 3:41.32 in what was easily the best performance of his career. Comber's previous personal best in the 1500 meters was 3:46.55 from last year's BIG EAST Championships, although his sub-four equivalent in California is not the first time this outdoor season that Comber has had a headline-worthy result. At the Raleigh Relays on March 28 he tallied a PR of 13:45.90 in the 5K, good for 10^th place on the Wildcats all-time performance list.
 
Heavy rain and high winds delayed the Saturday night schedule at the Bryan Clay Invitational, moving the invite 1500 meter races back nearly an hour from their scheduled start time. After a break in the weather, the downpours returned during the men's races and the temperature was no better than the low-50's during any of the heats. The conditions mattered little to the Villanova "sub-four four."
 
Villanova's track & field record book already has a permanent place for each of the four athletes who were in action on Saturday night, but first there will be plenty more to come for the Wildcats this season. Coming out of the weekend, the East region performance list will take further shape at what is roughly the midpoint of the outdoor collegiate campaign.
 
The descending order list will be used to determine the qualifiers for the NCAA East Preliminary in Lexington, Ky. on May 22 and 24. That meet serves as the early rounds of the NCAA Championships. More immediately, the upcoming Villanova schedule features the Virginia Challenge next weekend (April 19-20) followed by the gauntlet of the Penn Relays, the BIG EAST Championships and the NCAA meets.