NEW YORK—Villanova opened two days of competition in the Rutgers Open with several strong results at The Armory on Friday afternoon. The contingent of Wildcats who were in action on Friday combined to record personal bests in the 400 meters, the Mile and the weight throw. In addition, two of the team's sprinters qualified for semifinal heats of the men's 60 meters which will be run on Saturday morning. The meet started a busy weekend for Villanova, which has groups of men's and women's athletes at meets hosted by Rutgers, Clemson, Vanderbilt and Washington over two das of competition.
 
The trio of graduate Ryan Cutter (El Sobrante, Calif.), senior Patrick Spychalski (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) and junior Mathias Powell (Mahomet, Ill.) all ran personal best times in the Mile in the final event of the day. Cutter led four Wildcats overall in the Mile and posted a time of 4:08.59 to finish eight out of 43 competitors. He crossed the finish line exactly seven seconds faster than his previous PR of 4:15.59 which had come in February 2020 in a home meet when he was running for UChicago.
 
Spychalski came in ninth with a PR of 4:11.32, followed by senior Ben Seiple (Westport, Conn.) in 12^th place (4:12.44) and Powell with a personal best time of 4:21.33 in 22^nd place. The previous PR for Spychalski was 4:14.47 during the 2020 indoor campaign, while Powell typically runs in the longer distance events on the track and was competing in the Mile for the first time as a collegian.
 
In earlier track events on Friday, junior Mac Costonis (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) posted a personal best time of 50.27 in the 400 meters to finish ninth out of 38 competitors. He and sophomore Jakob Kunzer (George Town, Grand Cayman) placed ninth and 10^th overall, with Kunzer posting a time of 50.46 for the day. Graduate Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) made his indoor season debut and ran the 1000 meters in 2:28.40.
 
The first track event of the day was the 60 meters in which senior Dylan Henry (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and graduate Michael Troup (Doylestown, Pa.) each advanced on time out of the preliminary heats. Henry matched his top time of the season with a mark of 7.14 and Troup finished with a time of 7.25. They were 14^th and 19^th overall in a field of 34 competitors and moved on to the semifinal heats which take place at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday morning.
 
Troup was also in action in the long jump on Friday and recorded a distance of 6.85 meters. He finished third out of 18 athletes, while graduate Sosa Omuemu (Foxborough, Mass.) was 10^th with a mark of 6.40 meters. Omuemu competed in the long jump for the first time this season after twice competing in the triple jump earlier in the season.
 
Graduate thrower Riley LaRiviere (Telford, Pa.) registered a personal best mark of 16.75 meters in the college section of the weight throw. His mark bumps him up a spot into fourth place on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the event. LaRiviere was in second place after his first three attempts of the day, with his top throw a distance of 16.53 meters on his second attempt. That advanced him into the final to take three more throws and he recorded his new PR of 16.75 meters on his sixth and final attempt. The throw also secured a second place finish out of the 14 competitors in his section.