RALEIGH, N.C.—Three of the eight fastest 10K times in Villanova history occurred in the same race on Friday night as the veteran trio of Haftu Strintzos (Melbourne, Australia), Jack Jennings (Mendham, N.J.) and Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia) each raced in the same section at the Raleigh Relays. The second of three days of competition at Paul Derr Track featured several Wildcats competing in the pole vault, the discus and the 10000 meters.
 
Strintzos led the Villanova contingent in the 10K with a time of 28:36.71, good for a fifth place finish overall out of more than 100 competitors who started in three sections of the event. The time for Strintzos is the second-fastest of his career and he now owns seven of the 15 fastest times in the 10,000 meters in the Wildcats all-time record book. All seven of those times lie in a range of just over 20 seconds and all are below 29 minutes. He is a two-time honorable mention All-American in the 10K.
 
Friday night marked the first collegiate 10,000 meter races on the track for both Jennings and Phillips, who have run the distance on multiple occasions during cross country season. The pair was barely separated by half a second at the finish line, with Jennings finishing sixth in 28:41.11 and Phillips coming in eighth with a time of 28:41.65. Sixth year runner Ryan Cutter (El Sobrante, Calif.) and junior Cole Walker (Chadds Ford, Pa.) also ran the 10K on Friday night. Cutter posted a time of 29:09.39 and Walker finished in 30:24.20 in his first career race at the distance.
 
The times recorded by Strintzos, Jennings and Phillips occupy the sixth through eighth fastest times in the Villanova record book. The three runners, along with Cutter, represent four of the top 10 individual athletes in school history in the 10,000 meters. Strintzos is second on that list, followed by Jennings (fourth), Phillips (fifth) and Cutter (eighth). The quartet holds the four fastest times in the BIG EAST this season following Friday night's race.
 
After the close of competition on Friday night the updated NCAA Division I leaderboard featured Strintzos ranked fourth on the national qualifying list, followed by Jennings in fifth, Phillips seventh and Cutter ranked 29^th.
 
Earlier in the day sophomore thrower Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.) was in competition for the Wildcats in the discus. He recorded a mark of 40.76 meters on his first attempt of the day which put him 13^th in his section. Bolinsky continues competition on Saturday morning in the hammer. The other athlete competing for Villanova on Friday was freshman pole vaulter Bennett Hemphill (Greenwich, Conn.).