Villanova Women Finish Second, Men Third In Big East Track And Field Championships

VILLANOVA, PA. 5/13/2017 – It was a soggy Saturday at Villanova Stadium.  The athletes competed in an all-day, steady rain that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants.  In the end the Marquette Golden Eagles women’s team retained their championship putting 195 points on the board.  The DePaul Blue Demons men dethroned Marquette to take the team title by a 204 – 183 score..  Villanova women placed second scoring 176 points, while the men were in third place with 138 points.

DePaul and Marquette were strong in the field events, and that proved to be the difference.  DePaul men’s field athletes amassed 113 field points.  The Marquette women had 144 in the field.

Villanova won a total of eight championships, five by the women and three by the men.  Individually, Villanova was led by Siofra Cleirigh Buttner and Angel Piccrillo who had two championships.

The Wildcats were better in the track.  The women posted 114 track points, and the men got 89.  St. John’s women sprinters led a strong performance by the Red Storm as they totaled 97 in those events.

Siofra Cleirigh Buttner and Nicole Hutchinson Speed Through The Rain Drops

A highlight for Villanova was a one-two finish in the Women’s 1500 Meter run.  Siofra Cleirigh Buttner pulled away from a pack of runners over the last 300 meters to win the race with a time of 4:28.17.  Fellow Wildcat Nicole Hutchinson was second turning in a performance of 4:30.11.  Kennedy Weisner of Georgetown was third.  The runners were bunched with all runners in contention over the first two laps. Hutchinson and Cleirigh Buttner were second and third.  In the bell lap Hutchinson moved to the front and the Nova runners began to separate from the pack.  Cleirigh Buttner made her move on the last back turn and cruised to victory.  Villanova got 18 team points in the event.

The Wildcats followed that with a championship in the Men’s 1500 Meters when freshman Logan Wetzel came from behind, pulling away in the stretch to win with a time of 3:52.00.  Georgetown runner Darren Fahy was in the second position finishing in 3:53.18.  Villanova got 10 team points.

Angel Piccrillo won the 800 Meter Run for Villanova.  In the last lap the race came down to a duel between Piccrillo and Emma Keegan of Georgetown.  The two runners separated themselves from the pack in the back stretch. Piccrillo took control in the far turn and won with a time of 2:07.45.  Keegan followed in 2:08.76.  Rebecca Del Rossi finished 6th in 2:14.91.  Jacquelyn Smith (2:23.24) finished in 8th place.  The Wildcats earned 13 points to 6 for Golden Eagles.

The Villanova women team fell behind St. John’s, but in the 5000 Meter Run the Wildcats finished first and second to take second place back in the team standings with 153 points.  Bella Burda pulled away from the pack in the last two laps. Getting stronger as the race went on Burda won with a time of 17:51.92.  Ann Campbell was second (17:55.64) nearly 4 seconds behind.  Nova’s Katie Fischer was seventh turning in an 18:13.03 performance.  The team standings with 2 events left was Marquette 184, Villanova 158, and St. John’s 147.

In a duel down the stretch Kyle Cartwright of Villanova edged out DePaul’s Jarvis Hill and Marquette’s Chris Van Sanders to earn the title.  Cartwright ran a 54.46 with Hill coming in at 54.68, just a mere .01 seconds ahead of Van Sanders.  Konrad Bayer finished fifth in 57.20 ahead of Utsav Deshpande (57.58) for Nova.

Kristen Erickson won the Women’s Shot Put event for Villanova when her fifth throw traveled 12.48m to earn 5 team points.  Dylan Marshall took second for DePaul when her final throw went 11.95m.  Bernadette McGowan scored 3 points for St. John’s at 11.86m.

In the Men’s 4 x 800 Relay Ben Malone had a great second leg for Villanova.  He had a sizable lead passing the baton to Ishmael Muhammad who stretched the lead.  Anchor runner Logan Wetzel was not going to get as the Wildcats hit the finish line in 7:37.94.  Colin O’Mara ran lead off for Villanova.  Marquette finished second running a 7:43.36.

Villanova kept momentum going in the Women’s 4 x 400 Relay.  In the third leg Angel Piccrillo fell behind, but raced around the last turn to get the lead.  The baton was passed to Siofra Cleirigh Buttner who widened the lead.  The Wildcats ran a time of 3:44.34.  St. John’s was second posting a 3:47.14.  Danielle Burns and Amari Onque-Shabazz ran the first two legs for Nova.

Women’s Track

The Wildcats had a chance to significantly add to their team total in the 400 Meter run as Nova had four runners. Maya Stephens of St. John’s won the event in 54.81.  Amari Onque-Shabazz finished second for Villanova turning in a time of 56.69.  Sydney Hayes was fourth covering the distance in 57.39.  McKenna Keegan (57.93) and Sarah Knowles (58.26) were seventh and eighth.  Nova had 16 points from the race.  Golden Eagles runner Anna Strong was third finishing in 57.19 and a critical 6 team points.  To this point Marquette held a 109 – 104 lead over Villanova in the women’s team totals with 12 of 22 events finalized.

Danielle Burns added 6 points to the Nova team total finishing third in the Women’s 100 Hurdles.  Burns got to the finish line 14.11 which is her fastest time the this event.  Adrianna Wright of St. John’s won it in 13.67.

The Wildcats had two runners in the Women’s 400 Meter Hurdles.  Veronica Scott (1:02.38) was second and Danielle Burns (1:05.53) was fifth earning Nova 10 team points.  Allie Vogeler of Butler won the event covering the distance in 1:00.19.

In the women’s Heptathlon Niki Cleary finished fourth for Villanova scoring a career-high 3,913 points and gave her team 5 points.  It was a big event for Marquette as the Golden Eagles added 14 points to their total.  Monique Fox won the event for Marquette with 5,916 points scoring 10 for the team  Erica Wanie finished fifth in the event scoring 3,882 points and adding 4 to the team total.

Villanova took another fourth place in the 4 x 100 relay.  The team was made up of Danielle Burns, Arielle Massillon, Melissa June, and Gloria Donou.  The team ran a time of 48.70.  St. John’s took the title in 46.27.  Marquette finished just ahead of Nova covering the distance in 47.55.

St. John’s had a one-two sweep in the Women’s 100 Meter Dash and had an added bonus of a 4th place finish to pull to within 3 team points of Villanova after 13 events.  Melissa June of Villanova was seventh running a 12.56 time. Adrianna Wright won it in 11.92.  Denesha Ransome was second clocking in at 11.93.  Christina Oguledo (12.09) took fifth.  Marquette’s Terica Harris was sixth at 12.37.

Georgetown won the Women’s 4 x 800 relay when Kennedy Weisner in the second leg pulled away from the pack to give the Hoyas a comfortable lead winning in a time of 8:55.61.  Villanova held off Marquette for second place finishing in 9:04.72. Kelly Ciluffo, Veronica Scott, Rebecca Del Rossi, and Nicole Hutchinson ran for the Wildcats. Jocelyn Hubbard, Piper Donaghu, and Weisner was the Georgetown squad.

Men’s Track.

Harry Purcell had a lead down the stretch in the Men’s 400 Meter Run, but was caught by Sebastian Feyersinger of DePaul winning with a time of 47.45.  Purcell clocked in at 47.57.  The Blue Demons took aim on Golden Eagles in the standings cutting the gap to 97 – 94 in the men’s team totals.  The Wildcats were third with 59 points, 4 ahead of Georgetown after 11 of 22 events.

Villanova placed second and third in the Men’s 800 Meter Run.  Charles Cooper of Georgetown was strong in the last lap and took the race in 1:52.83.  Ville Lampinen was second for the Wildcats finishing in 1:54.53, and teammate Ishmael Muhammad took third in 1:54.83.  The Hoyas got fourth place as Charles Cooper turned in a performance of 1:55.27.

The Wildcats finished ahead of the Golden Eagles finishing fourth.  The team of Stephen Testa, Sterling Pierce, Daniel Powers, and Ikechukwu Osuagwu hit the tape in 42.68.  Marquette was fifth in 44.46.  Xavier won the event with a time of 41.79.

In the Men’s 100 Meter Dash Sterling Pierce of Villanova was the runner-up in the event turning in a 10.80 time. Zachary Polk of Xavier was the winner clocking a 10.79 time.

Pete Winslow of Villanova finished sixth in the Men’s Decathlon scoring 4,723 points.  Wade Walder won the event for Butler scoring 6,265 points.

Andrew Marston finished fourth in the 5000 Meters running a 14:30.09 for Villanova.  Erik Peterson won the race. The Butler distance runner won with a time of 14:11.33.

The final event of the day was the Men’s 4 x 400 Relay.  Georgetown won it with a time of 3:15.63.  Villanova took third place running a 3:16.85 relay.  The Wildcats were in contention getting the lead at some point over the last three legs, but could not hold off the Hoyas.

Field Events

It was a big gold, silver, bronze sweep in the Men’s Shot Put for DePaul and it allowed the Blue Demons to take a 122 – 103 men’s team lead over the Golden Eagles after 12 events.  Henry Sise had a 14.65 distance to take 6th place and Dan Sullivan threw the shot 14.21m for Villanova.  Kyle Hedge (16.45m), Isaac Jemenez (15.29m), and Trevor Kintyhtt (15.29m) made a 24 point event for DePaul.

In the Women’s Triple Jump the Wildcats got a 4th place finish from Marley Byrne with a personal-best jump of 11.34m.   Gloria Donou took seventh jumping 11.05m, and Kathleen Ciccarone (11.01m) was eighth.  Marquette had a one-two finish when Terica Harris jumped 12.27m and Monique Felix had a 12.23m distance.

Marquette stretched their lead scoring 21 team points in the Women’s Discuss.  DePaul’s Corrine Franz won the event throwing a 40.59m discuss.  The Golden Eagles took second. third, fifth, seventh, and eighth places in the event. Maya Marion led the Eagles finishing second with a throw of 38.46m followed by Jenna Rosenthal (37.99m).  Keely Knobbe placed fifth throwing the discus 35.9m.  Alexandria Zimmerman placed sixth for Villanova earning 3 points with a distance of 35.52m.

In the Men’s Discuss DePaul stretched their team lead with a one-two finish.  Trevor Kintyhtt won with a throw of 49.44m followed by Kyle Hedge at 48.44m.  Villanova got points from Jadyn Anczarski whose 42.07 throw was good enough for fifth place.  Chikadodiri Nwachukwu was eighth at 48.43.

Stephen Testa placed seventh in the Men’s Triple Jump for Villanova leaping 13.65m and teammate Aaron Elcock was next at 13.38m.  DePaul and Marquette were vying for the team title.  Brian Mada won the event for the Blue Demons with jumps of 14.87.  Marquette took the next three places; William Wolf (14.64m), Djdada Denson (13.93m), and Cory Cegelski (13.88m).  DePaul maintained their lead.

Kathleen Ciccarone was the lone Wildcat in the Women’s High Jump.  She finished 10th with a leap of 1.45m.

TEAM SCORE TOTALS

Men’s: DePaul 204 Marquette 183 Villanova 138 Georgetown 104 Butler 98 Xavier 71 Providence 44

Women’s: Marquette 95 Villanova 176 St. John’s 156 DePaul 134, Georgetown 68 Providence 44 Xavier 44 Butler 40

Written By: Glenn Papazian

Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com

 

 

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