PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Villanova started the outdoor track & field season on a strong note with two event wins and three performances which impacted the program's all-time performance lists in the throwing events during competition at the Penn Challenge on Saturday afternoon. Warm weather at Franklin Field made the day feel more like the middle of the outdoor season than the beginning and the Wildcats followed suit with several strong performances that were especially noteworthy for this early in the year.
 
Sophomore sprinter Nicholas Mollica (Jackson, N.J.) won the 400 meter hurdles and junior distance runner Mathias Powell (Mahomet, Ill.) finished first in the 2000 meter steeplechase. Villanova also got strong performances from its throwers in the discus, the hammer and the javelin to update the list of top performers in school history in each of those events. Freshman thrower Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.) had a strong collegiate debut in the meet, while junior Joe DiDario (Ocean Township, N.J.) and graduate Riley LaRiviere (Telford, Pa.) were the other Wildcats standouts for the day.
 
Mollica won the 400 meter hurdles in 54.26 to notch the second-fastest time of his collegiate career. He crossed the finish line faster than in both of his races at last year's BIG EAST Championships when he came in fifth overall. Junior Mac Costonis (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) finished fifth behind Mollica in Saturday's race with a time of 56.48.
 
The first meet of the outdoor season is one of the only times that athletes will run a 2000 meter steeplechase rather than 3000 meters as they ramp up to top form for the season. Powell was running the steeplechase for the first time as a collegian and he posted a time of 5:57.70 to win Saturday's race. Senior teammate Patrick Spychalski (Mount Pleasant, S.C) was third behind him with a time of 6:08.92.
 
LaRiviere had the top finish in the Villanova throwing group with a fourth place result in the hammer. He threw for 55.45 meters in the competition to record the eighth-longest hammer throw in school history. It is the first time since 2012 that the Wildcats all-time top-10 list in the hammer has been updated and LaRiviere slides into third on the program's all-time performance list behind record holder Mark Blattner (57.36m) and Frank Anuszewski (56.88m). LaRiviere also came in ninth in the shot put with a throw of 13.72 meters in Saturday's outdoor season opener.
 
The meet was also a good one for Bolinsky in his first collegiate competition. He came in sixth in the discus with a throw of 47.53 meters and was seventh in the hammer with a mark of 47.34 meters. Bolinsky moved into ninth place on the Villanova performance list in the discus and is the Wildcats third thrower in the last three outdoor seasons to rank among the top 10 performers in the record book.
 
DiDario, meanwhile, came in sixth in the javelin with a personal best throw of 59.52 meters. That mark is good for ninth all-time at Villanova with the current javelin implement which was introduced for the 1999 season. DiDario is one of three active Wildcats among the top 10 performers; sophomore teammates Nick Coffey (Cranston, R.I.) and Andrew Grinnell (New Milford, Conn.) rank fifth and 10^th, respectively. In Saturday's meet it was DiDario who led the trio with his sixth place finish, while Grinnell placed seventh (59.15m) and Coffey was 10^th (57.67m).
 
In other track results from Saturday's meet, senior Jack Fredian (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and sophomore Jakob Kunzer (George Town, Grand Cayman) each tallied third place finishes in their respective events. Fredian came in third in the 1500 meters with a personal best time of 3:56.07 and Kunzer was third in the 400 meters with a time of 49.27. Sophomore sprinter William Seijas (Shrewsbury, N.J.) registered a personal best time of 52.01 in the 400 meters.
 
During the coming week members of the Villanova roster will compete in both the Texas Relays and the Raleigh Relays.