CHICAGO, Ill.—It is officially a four-peat for Villanova in the distance medley relay after the team of redshirt freshman Jack Fenlon (Laois, Ireland), senior Sal Barretta (Whitestone, N.Y.), junior Ryan Beegle (Chatham, N.J.) and senior Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) cruised to a winning time of 9:43.92 on the first night of the 2026 BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP. Adding to a strong day overall for the Wildcats at Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park was the eighth-longest weight throw in school history and a historic silver medal in the event for graduate student Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.).
 
Bolinsky surpassed 18 meters in the weight throw for the first time in his career and finished second with a new PR of 18.25 meters. It is the eighth career BIG EAST podium finish for Bolinsky, a new record for any Villanova thrower. Last year at this meet, Bolinsky tied the Wildcats throwing record of seven career medals which had been held by Robert McDade (2003-07). Bolinsky is now the first with eight, adding to his place in the school record book as he already had been the only Villanova men's thrower ever with career BIG EAST titles in each of the shot put, weight throw, discus and hammer.

The school record in the weight throw is 18.76 meters and was set by Frank Anuszewski on February 18, 2012, in another noteworthy BIG EAST performance. Since that date, the list of the 10 longest throws in program history had gone unchanged. Bolinsky had come close though, and he was already fourth on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the weight throw entering that season. He solidified his position with a then-PR of 17.91 meters at Penn earlier this year, and with his mark of 18.25 meters passed Mark Blattner to move into third in Villanova annals.
 
Bolinsky had company in reaching new distances on Friday evening. Freshman thrower Theo Hedgemon (Atlanta, Ga.) scored four points in the weight throw with a fifth place finish and a new PR of 16.83 meters. Hedgemon surged two spots on the Wildcats all-time performance list and now ranks fifth on that list. He and Bolinsky each finished one spot higher than they were ranked on the conference descending order list entering the meet.
 
The night finished with a flourish thanks to the exploits Fenlon, Barretta, Beegle and Langon in the distance medley relay. They won in 9:43.92 and finished more than three full seconds ahead of runner-up Providence after a see-it-to-believe-it final lap by Langon turned a tight race into a wide margin at the line. Langon officially split 4:00.81 for the final 1600 meters of the race, but his tear around the oval on the bell lap of the relay had more than one observer wondering aloud just how fast his final 200 meters might have been.
 
Fenlon opened the race with a split of 3:00.28 for the first 1200 meters, followed by Barretta in 49.43 on the 400 meter leg and Beegle with an 800 meter split of 1:53.40. In addition to winning the BIG EAST title for the fourth straight year, the Wildcats claimed their 24^th title in the event overall and finished on the podium for the 39^th time in their 46 years as part of the conference.
 
Sophomore distance runner Charlie Moore (Brisbane, Australia) and graduate student Matt Bogdan (Howell, N.J.) each scored in the 5000 meters, the only other final that Villanova was involved in on Friday night. Moore came on strong in the second half of the race and finished sixth with a time of 14:19.19, while Bogdan came in eighth in 14:26.43.
 
Earlier in the day, Sydney, Australia natives Bailey Habler and Ben Thomas were the two fastest qualifiers for the final of the mile. Habler won the second of two preliminary heats in 4:09.64, followed by Thomas in 4:10.33 and graduate student Seán Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) in 4:10.39. They all move on to Saturday's final, with Habler the reigning silver medalist in the event. The mile will be the first final on the track Saturday morning at 11:40 a.m. Central time (12:40 p.m. ET).
 
The other final qualifiers for Villanova are junior Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) in the 800 meters and junior Ethan Walls (Ridgefield, Conn.) in the 400 meters. Watcke came in second in his heat on Friday with a time of 1:51.89 and Walls posted a time of 48.35 in the 400 meters just one week after he ran on the Wildcats record-setting distance medley relay team which ran 9:16.10 in Philadelphia.