PRINCETON, N.J.—Three distance runners in the 5000 meters each posted top-four times on this year's BIG EAST leaderboard and Villanova tallied three event wins at the Sam Howell Invitational hosted by Princeton at Weaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon. As the outdoor season calendar gets into full swing the Wildcats recorded several marks on Saturday which rank on the East region qualifying list for the year.
 
Senior Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia) paced a field of 19 runners in the 5000 meters with a winning time of 13:49.64. He was followed across the line by junior Haftu Strinzos (Melbourne, Australia) who ran 13:51.28 to finish second, while graduate Ryan Cutter (El Sobrante, Calif.) was fourth with a personal best time of 14:02.45 and senior Jack Fredian (Arlington Heights, Ill.) finished 10^th in 14:13.11.
 
Phillips leads Villanova by ranking eighth on the East region qualifying list which will be used to determine selections for the NCAA East Preliminary meet next month. Strintzos ranks 11^th on that list with Cutter coming in at 27^th and Fredian ranking 44^th. Cutter's time of 14:02.45 lowered his lifetime best mark from his high school career (14:25.73) by more than 23 seconds.
 
Middle distance runners Sean Dolan (Pennington, N.J.) and Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) combined for a 1-2 finish in the 1500 meters. Dolan recorded a winning time of 3:45.97 in a field of 29 runners, with O'Donovan second (3:46.37) and redshirt freshman Cole Walker (Chadds Ford, Pa.) crossing the finish line in 4:00.54. Two freshmen from the Wildcats were competing in the 1500 meters as unattached entries. Sean Donoghue finished third in the race with a time of 3:47.77 and Devon Comber raced to a time of 3:51.58.
 
Junior Mathias Powell (Mahomet, Ill.) and senior Patrick Spychalski (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) ran the 3000 meter steeplechase for the first time this season. Powell came in first with a wining time of 9:08.32 and Spychalski finished third in 9:16.69. Powell's time ranks him 38^th on the East region descending order list.
 
Earlier in the day junior Miller Anderson (West Hartford, Conn.) came in fifth in the 800 meters with a time of 1:51.38. He led four Villanova competitors in the event and was followed in turn by senior Trevor Potts (Sparta, N.J.) who crossed the line in 1:55.63, sophomore Chris Weeks (Springfield, Va.) who had a time of 1:57.07 and graduate Jacob Bonanotte (Barrington, Ill.) with a time of 2:06.31.