GENEVA, Ohio—On the first day of competition at the indoor BIG EAST Track & Field Championships presented by Jeep, the Villanova men recorded at least one awards podium finish in each of the five events scored on Sunday afternoon and currently have the team lead entering the final day of the meet at SPIRE Institute.  The highlight of the day was the team's fourth consecutive conference title in the distance medley relay, while the Wildcats also fared well in the 5000 meters, the pole vault, the long jump and the weight throw. 
 
Villanova scored 62 points on Sunday and has a 10-point lead atop Marquette and the rest of the field of seven teams.  The majority of the events will be scored on Monday when the meet concludes, and the Wildcats also had several athletes advance out of the qualifying rounds of their respective individual events to move on to final heats on Monday. 
 
The first day of competition was a particularly strong one for Villanova's distance runners and throwers.  The lineup of sophomore Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia), senior Konrad Bayer (Naperville, Ill.), sophomore Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) and junior Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) won the distance medley relay in 9:47.80.  The Wildcats also recorded a 2-3-4 finish in the 5000 meters with a trio of senior Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.), redshirt freshman Haftu Strintzos (Victoria, Australia) and senior Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.). 
 
Senior thrower Jadyn Anczarski (Ringtown, Pa.) was the runner-up in the weight throw in the best finish by a Villanova athlete in that event in 18 years.  The quartet of Anczarski, junior Billy Loewen (Sparta, N.J.), senior Chika Nwachukwu (Lawrence, N.J.) and freshman Eduardo Perez (Appling, Ga.) all scored in the weight throw by finishing in the top-eight overall. 
 
Also making the awards podium were sophomore Jim Keys (Herndon, Va.) in the pole vault and junior Michael Troup (Doylestown, Pa.) in the long jump.  Keys moved up a spot from last year's indoor BIG EAST meet to finish in second place, while Troup came in third to notch the first individual All-BIG EAST honor of his career. 
 
Below is a full roundup of Sunday's events. 
 
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY
 
Villanova became the first men's team in BIG EAST history to win the distance medley relay four straight years.  It is the seventh win in the last eight seasons in the relay for the Wildcats, who held off Georgetown by less than a second in a close finish.  Three of the four runners on the relay were in the same positions as they were in last season, with Phillips (1200 meters), Bayer (400 meters) and Steele (1600 meters) all reprising their roles from the 2019 championship lineup.  O'Donovan was the lone new member of the group from last year. 
 
This is the 20^th conference title all-time for Villanova in the DMR and the 35^th time it has made the awards podium (top-three finish) in the 40-year history of the BIG EAST Championships.  The All-BIG EAST finishes for the Wildcats include the 20 titles, nine runner-up finishes and six third-place finishes.
 
5000 METERS
 
There was barely a second of separation at the finish line between the trio of Marston, Strintzos and Comber.  Marston posted a time of 14:16.99 to finish in second place, while Strintzos followed him in 14:17.98 and Comber recorded a time of 14:18.03. 
 
Villanova has now had 20 top-three finishes indoors in the 5000 meters over the years.  Marston recorded top-two finishes in the 5K all four years of his Wildcats career, while Strintzos made a strong impression with a third place finish in his first career BIG EAST meet on the track.  In addition to the trio of point scorers, junior Paul Nichols (Latham, N.Y.) recorded a time of 15:33.23.
 
WEIGHT THROW
 
Anczarski became the fourth Villanova athlete to make the awards podium in the weight throw.  He threw for a distance of 16.32 meters and came in second out of nine competitors in the event.  Anczarski's second place finish is the best by a Wildcats athlete in the weight throw since Mark Blatter won the event in 2002.  The only previous top-two finish for Villanova came in 1983 when Russell Palmer was the BIG EAST runner-up. 
 
The four competitors for the Wildcats in the weight throw combined to score 16 team points.  Loewen finished in fifth place with a measurement of 14.83 meters, while Nwachukwu was fifth in 14.81 meters.  The freshman Appling recorded a new personal best with a throw of 12.11 meters to come in eighth.  He tallied that mark on the fifth of his six throws for the day and passed an athlete from DePaul to move into position in the top eight. 
 
Anczarski earned the first All-BIG EAST honor of his career, while Loewen's fifth-place finish matches his outdoor finish in the shot put last year for his top individual finish.  All four throwers will be back in action on Monday for the shot put.
 
LONG JUMP
 
Troup recorded a long jump of 7.16 meters to finish in third place and make the awards podium.  He had been a member of the 4x100 meter relay team which came in third at the 2018 outdoor conference meet, but his performance in the long jump on Sunday is his first career individual All-BIG EAST honor.  Sengelmann came in sixth with a jump of 6.97 meters, just two centimeters off matching the top performance of his career.  The podium appearance for Troup is the first indoor top-three finish for Villanova in the long jump since Elbert Maxwell won his second straight indoor title in the event five years ago.
 
POLE VAULT
 
Keys cleared the bar at 4.75 meters to make the awards podium with a second place finish.  He made it over on his first try at that height to score a tiebreaker over the third place finisher from Marquette.  Keys came into the competition with the bar at 4.45 meters and was successful on four of his first seven trips down the runway.  He was eliminated when the bar moved to 4.85 meters, a height which would have represented a new lifetime best.  Keys has now been an All-BIG EAST performer in the pole vault in each of the first two indoor conference meets of his career.
 
PRELIMINARY HEATS
 
Villanova had eight athletes advance out of the preliminary round of their respective events to qualify for final heats on Monday.  O'Donovan was the fastest overall qualifier in the Mile with a time of 4:15.50 in the preliminaries.  He and Steele (4:18.25) were each automatic qualifiers for the final, while redshirt freshman Patrick Spychalski (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) advanced on time after finishing fifth in his heat in 4:16.87.  The top four finishers in each of two heats and the next four fastest times moved on to the final.  Spychalski was the fastest of the four on-time qualifiers. 
 
Senior Logan Wetzel (Saline, Mich.) and freshman Miller Anderson (West Hartford, Conn.) each were automatic qualifiers for the final in the 800 meters.  Wetzel finished in 1:53.32 in a heat that was extensively reviewed after the race due to contact which occurred on the back straightaway during the bell lap.  Anderson posted a time of 1:52.53 in his heat.
 
Three more qualifiers will represent Villanova in the sprints.  Freshman Anthony Brodie (Bronx, N.Y.) was the top performer in the final of the 400 meters, a straight time trial in which there were no automatic qualifiers for heat winners.  Brodie recorded a time of 47.73 and moved on to the final with junior Keegan Hughes (Malvern, Pa.) who registered a time of 48.94.  Junior Richie Bush (Lawnside, N.J.) moved on in the 200 meters with a time of 22.10.