PHILADELPHIA – Ryan Cutter highlighted a night of personal bests under the lights of Franklin Field on Thursday night, becoming the sixth fastest performer in Villanova history in the 10,000 meter to close out the first day of the 126^th Penn Relays.

Cutter logged a second-place time of 29:00.45 that topped his previous top mark by 43 seconds. He was one of three distance runners in the evening to have personal-best runs.

Under a minute behind Cutter in the 10,000 meter was Jack Fredian in fifth-place with a 29:52.32 that also marked a high mark for the senior. Villanova's personal-best times started in the 5,000 meter with Jack Jennings posting a 14:00.51, shaving 13 seconds off of the personal best he set at the Larry Ellis Invitational nearly two weeks prior.

Riley LaRiviere finished ninth in the college men's hammer throw at 56.55 meters. He threw 55.09 in his first attempt with the 56.55 coming in his second before faulting on the third, sitting fourth after the first heat. By the time the second heat concluded, he was ninth in the field, earning a spot in the final round. He faulted again on the first throw but threw 52.96 in his fifth throw of the day before faulting again in his final.

The first track event for the 'Cats was the 400 meter hurdles championship with Nicholas Mollica being the only Villanova athlete in the race. He finished fifth in his heat with a 53.99, good enough for 16^th overall.
In the 1,500 meter championship, Liam Murphy was nearly in the lead through the first 700, sitting second with a 1:48.78. He slid down through the final two laps of his heat, posting a 3:52.98 for seventh in the heat. Overall, he ended up 17^th.

Villanova was represented in two heats of the 5,000 meter. Jennings' 14:00.51 landed him at 13^th in the first heat, a position he held on to even after the next two heats. In the third heat, Benjamin Seiple went 14:22.45, good enough for sixth in the heat and 41^st overall.

The final race of the night was a close with Cutter flirting with the top spot through the back stretch of the event. He finished neck and neck with Stony Brook's Evan Brennan who edged out the graduate student by nine-tenths of a second.

The Penn Relays roll on Friday with a full slate. Field events are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. with the javelin and long jump followed by discus at 3 p.m., pole vault at 3:30 and triple jump at 4:30 p.m. Track events will be the distance medley relay at 2 p.m. and 4x400 meter relay at 6:30 p.m.