PRINCETON, N.J.—Senior thrower
Riley LaRiviere (Telford, Pa.) became the first Villanova men's athlete in more than 10 years to break a school record in one of the throwing events when he recorded a mark of 57.46 meters in the hammer at Broadmead Field on Friday afternoon. LaRiviere broke the Wildcats previous standard which had stood for nearly 20 years to highlight six events on the Villanova schedule during the first day of competition at the Larry Ellis Invitational. The meet concludes on Saturday afternoon when the Wildcats have five individual track events, one relay and two field events on the docket.
LaRiviere extended his top mark in the hammer this season by more than two meters and registered a new lifetime best mark with his throw of 57.46 meters. It came on his second of three attempts for the day and was good for a seventh place finish out of 24 competitors in the meet. LaRiviere also moved up a spot to fourth place on this year's BIG EAST performance list pending the results from other meets taking place this weekend.
It was the school record that was the highlight, however. LaRiviere eclipsed the mark of 57.36 meters which Mark Blattner set at Villanova Stadium during competition at the Tuppeny Twilight Meet on May 13, 2002. The longest previous throw of LaRiviere's career had been 57.26 meters last spring while he was competing at Lehigh. He graduated from Lehigh in December and came to the Wildcats this Spring with the school record in the hammer within reach for him. This is the first time since the 2012 indoor season that any new record has been set in a men's throwing event, with the last record to fall being the weight throw during that year's BIG EAST Championships.
The first event of the day Friday afternoon was men's javelin in which junior
Joe DiDario (Ocean Township, N.J.) threw for 56.65 meters on his third and final attempt of the day.
Later in the evening the track events took center stage at Weaver Stadium with the elite sections of the middle distance and distance races taking place. Villanova had a strong contingent in the 1500 meters and also competed in the 800 meters, the 3000 meter steeplechase and the 5000 meters on Friday night.
The fastest section of the 1500 meters saw seven athletes cross the finish line within seven-tenths of a second of each other. Three of those seven runners were Wildcats and junior
Sean Dolan (Pennington, N.J.) was the overall winner of the 1500 meters with a season-best time of 3:44.30. Senior
Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) finished sixth overall in 3:44.71 and freshman
Seán Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) ran his first official race for Villanova with a personal best time of 3:44.93. Senior
Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia) and redshirt freshman
Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) posted times of 3:46.05 and 3:46.91, respectively. Freshman
Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) was an unattached runner in the 1500 meters and recorded a personal best time of 3:50.02.
Junior distance runner
Mathias Powell (Mahomet, Ill.) broke nine minutes for the first time in the 3000 meter steeplechase and finished sixth out of 21 runners with a new PR of 8:58.76. Senior
Patrick Spychalski (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) also competed in the steeplechase and recorded a time of 9:24.59. Earlier in the night the duo of junior
Miller Anderson (West Hartford, Conn.) and senior
Trevor Potts (Sparta, N.J.) tallied times of 1:53.37 and 1:53.88, respectively, in the 800 meters.
The last event of the night was the 5000 meters in which redshirt freshman
Jack Jennings (Mendham, N.J.) came in seventh out of 36 runners with a time of 14:13.57. It was the first collegiate 5K race for Jennings and also his first outdoor race for the Wildcats. He was followed across the finish line by graduate student
Ryan Cutter (El Sobrante, Calif.) with a time of 14:20.82; seniors
Jack Fredian (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and
Ben Seiple (Westport, Conn.) registered marks of 14:22.24 and 14:51.86, respectively.
The first men's event on the Villanova schedule for Saturday is the unseeded section of the 1500 meters at 12:30 p.m.
