Marquette Women, Villanova Men Win 2016 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – After two long days at the Ocean Breeze Park Track & Field Athletic Center, a new BIG EAST champion was crowned, a three-peat was had and a collegiate record was broken at the 2016 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships Presented by the Jeep Brand.
The Marquette Golden Eagles won their first-ever BIG EAST team title with 168.50 points in women’s events. The women had it won going into the last event of the meet, the 4x400. The Golden Eagles had four event-winners and 13 podium appearances. The Marquette coaching staff won Coaching Staff of the Year, while rookie Monique Felix won BIG EAST Female Field Performer of the Meet. Felix won the pentathlon and finished third in the long jump and second in the triple jump.
The Red Storm finished second with 150 points, winning five events. It was St. John’s second-ever runner up finish.
The BIG EAST Most Outstanding Female Track Performer of the Meet, Villanova’s Angel Piccirillo, set a collegiate and American collegiate record in the 1,000-meter run racing to a 2:40.82 finish.
On the men’s side, Villanova earned a three-peat on their title as the Wildcats won the team award with 208 points. Villanova’s men’s coaching staff won Coaching Staff of the Year, while distance runner Patrick Tiernan won the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Track Performer of the meet with event wins in the 5,000-meter and 3,000-meter events. Villanova became the first team to win back-to-back-to-back titles since Georgetown did it four times from 1998-2001.
Like 2015, Marquette was once again runner up on the men’s side, this time with 195 points.
The race between the Golden Eagles and Wildcats came down to the final inputted results, right up to the men’s 4x400-meter relay, which was won by DePaul with Villanova finishing second and Marquette third.
DePaul’s Trevor Kintyhtt won the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Field Performer on the men’s side as he repeated as the men’s weight throw champion (20.15 meters) and second in the shot put (15.95 meters) for the Blue Demons.
Coming into Saturday’s finals the Marquette women had a 2.5-point lead on St. John’s. On the men’s side, Marquette was ahead by 20, 65-45 over Villanova.
Saturday began with the mile finals as Kennedy Weisner of Georgetown won on the women’s side with a time 4:48.14 and Villanova’s Jordan Williamsz won for the men at 4:21.57.
It was a Villanova sweep in the 1,000-meter finals as, Piccirillo outran her competitors by five seconds as she cruised to her collegiate record time of 2:40.82 and Elliott Slade crossed the tape in the men’s competition at 2:26.65.
Villanova’s Shanice Grant defended her title in the 60-meter hurdles with a winning time of 8.69 seconds. DePaul’s Kyle Decker won for the men with a 8.46 second finish.
In the 60-meter dash, the Wildcats were once again successful, as Sterling Pierce won at 6.89 seconds. For the women, Tayler Whittler of DePaul took home her first of two gold medals, crossing the line at 7.52 seconds. Whittler also won the 200-meter dash with a 24.11 finish.
The 400-meter finals on the women’s side had St. John’s Pariis Garcia repeat as champion with a time of 53.89 seconds. The 400 men’s event was won by DePaul’s Sebastian Feyersinger at 48.02 seconds. Feyersinger also repeated as the 200-meter men’s champion with a time of 21.39.
Villanova finished first and second in the men’s 500-meter dash as Ville Lampinen was crowned champion with a time of 1:02.59. Claire Mooney from St. John’s won for the women clocking in at 1:10.90.
Georgetown’s Joseph White set a meet record time of 1:47.59 in the 800-meter run; while teammate Hoya Heather Martin won for the women at 2:08.87.
Tiernan won the men’s 3K with a finish of 8:13.16. Georgetown’s Katrina Coogan won the women’s title with a time of 9:07.44.
In Saturday’s field events, Maxell Bullard of Marquette won the shot put with a throw of 16.10 meters while teammate Maya Marion won for the women with a distance of 13.97 meters.
In the infield, Villanova’s Anne Yahiro won the triple jump, while DePaul’s Brian Mada finished first for the men. Their distances were 12.16 meters and 14.78 meters respectively. The Golden Eagles finished one and two in the women’s high jump as Omo Tseumah won gold and Bridget Bodee won silver. For the men, Butler’s Dakota Thompson won with a jump of 2.00 meters.
Joel Swanberg of Marquette defended his indoor heptathlon title with 4,815 points for his second win of the meet.
Saturday’s relay events had St. John’s win the 4x400-meter relay for the second year, this time with Shenika King, Garcia, Raquel Ricketts and Mooney running the legs for a 3:40.59 finish, nearly five seconds faster than the 2015 time. Georgetown won the 4x800-meter relay with a team made up of Aleta Looker, Coogan, Weisner and Andrea Keklak.
For the men, Villanova again won the 4x800-meter for the second year as Ben Malone, Ishmael Muhammad, Slade and Williamsz raced to gold at 7:28.04. In the 4x400-meter relay DePaul narrowly beat out Villanova as anchor Feyersinger beat out Lampinen for the win. The Blue Demon’s squad, with Charles Bottoms, Jarvis Hill and Isaac Walker joining Feyersinger, finished at 3:14.33. The Villanova squad of Kyle Cartwright, Harry Purcell, Donald Urschel and Lampinen finished at 3:17.24.
The 2016 BIG EAST All-Conference team will be announced on Tuesday, March 1. Below are the full team scores.
Women’s Team Scores
1. Marquette – 168.50
2. St. John’s – 150
3. Villanova – 133.5
4. Georgetown –112
5. DePaul – 98
6. Providence – 46
7. Butler – 38
8. Xavier – 32
Most Outstanding Female Field Performer: Monique Felix, Marquette
Most Outstanding Female Track Performer: Angel Piccirillo, Villanova
Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year: Marquette
Men’s Team Scores
1. Villanova – 208
2. Marquette – 195
3. DePaul – 124.5
4. Georgetown – 89
5. Butler – 62.5
6. Providence – 54
7. Xavier – 40
Most Outstanding Male Field Performer: Trevor Kintyhtt, DePaul
Most Outstanding Male Track Performer: Patrick Tiernan, Villanova
Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year: Villanova