NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Senior distance runner Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia) broke eight minutes in the 3000 meters for the second time this season and posted a lifetime best mark of 7:58.45 in competition at the Indoor Music City Challenge on Saturday afternoon. Villanova had an exciting weekend at the David Williams II Recreation and Wellness Center on the Vanderbilt campus over the past two days, including big races from the trio of Phillips and redshirt freshmen Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) and Jack Jennings (Mendham, N.J.).
 
The meet started on Friday night and produced an early highlight when middle distance runners Sean Dolan (Pennington, N.J.) and Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) each broke four minutes in the Mile. Dolan ran a PR of 3:56.39 to notch the third-fastest indoor time in school history. The excitement for the Wildcats continued into Saturday with Phillips breaking onto the program's all-time top-10 on the 3000 meter performance list.
 
Phillips' time of 7:58.45 in Saturday's race lowered the mark of 7:59.46 he had recorded in the Sykes & Sabock Challenge at Penn State last month. His new time moved him past Louie Quintana and Jordy Williamsz who previously held the ninth and 10^th spots on the Villanova performance list. Phillips now occupies the ninth position in the Wildcats record book and he remains third on this year's BIG EAST performance list.
 
Two of the promising young distance runners on the Villanova roster also recorded personal best times in the 3000 meters on Saturday. Murphy crossed the finish line in 8:07.96 and lowered his previous PR from high school by nearly 30 seconds. It has been a terrific few weeks for Murphy, who ran a sub-four minute mile for the first time in his career at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge last month. Jennings posted a time of 8:12.25 in Saturday's race and crossed the line four seconds faster than his previous mark of 8:16.22 at Penn State on January 29.
 
Junior middle distance runner Miller Anderson (West Hartford, Conn.) rounded out the Wildcats contingent of athletes at the Music City Challenge with a time of 1:53.04 in the unseeded section of the 800 meters. Anderson finished 14^th overall out of 46 competitors in his race.