PHILADELPHIA – Senior Malik Cunningham was half a meter away from winning the triple jump championship on Saturday at Franklin Field, clutching a second-place showing to headline Villanova's last day at the 126^th Penn Relays.

Cunningham was third through his first three attempts, starting with a 15.76 meter jump that put him in second before sliding down on back-to-back faults. He bounced back with a 15.85 leap in the fourth attempt that he followed with a 15.68 distance in his fifth. His best jump came in his sixth and final attempt, posting a 16.10 to move him into the lead as the only athlete to surpass the 16-meter mark. His distance was topped by Virginia's Owayne Owens, pushing him into second. The rest of the field still sat nearly half a meter behind Cunningham.

The 16.10 marks a new career-high for Cunningham in the outdoor season and is 10^th on Villanova's career collegiate outdoor season list. He crushed the previous season-high of 15.66 meters for the team in this year's outdoor slate set back on April 23.

The Wildcats had just two events on the docket for Saturday and landed in the top five in both. The other event was the 4xMile Championship of America Relay that saw Josh Phillips, Charlie O'Donovan, Seán Donoghue and Sean Dolan take fifth, posting a time of 16:18.38 for the fifth fastest both overall and in the outdoor seasons for Villanova.
 

"We'll always be coming back, you know. We're ready for more."

Sean Donoghue steps to the mic after the 4xMile at his first Penn Relays. pic.twitter.com/b3QIERkOpU
— Villanova Track & XC (@NovaTrackXC) April 30, 2022

Phillips opened the race with a 4:08.54 split that put the 'Cats into sixth-place before handing the baton to O'Donovan. He raced up to the top of the pack to overtake Wisconsin's Jackson Sharp for the lead during his second lap but ended up getting bypassed by Georgetown's Camden Gilmore with roughly 300 meters left in his leg. He got back into second by the handoff with the lowest split of the race for Villanova at 4:00.83, sending Donoghue out for his leg. The freshman stayed within Georgetown's leader throughout all of his leg, maintaining that second-place position with a 4:03.91 split heading to Dolan's anchor. Dolan was in step with Georgetown's Jack Salisbury within the last quarter mile. By the final turn, a full-on sprint broke out at the top of the pack. Georgetown and Villanova ended up falling to fourth and fifth, respectively with Texas surging ahead to take the win after sitting as low as ninth due to an early pileup.

The top five teams in the 4xMile ended up being separated by just under one second thanks to the wild finale in the home stretch.

Villanova's next event is the BIG EAST Championships May 13 and 14 from Storrs, Conn.