Championship Results (PDF) | Individual Winners (PDF)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Villanova Wildcats became the 2018 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Champions for both the men and women after a tight two-day competition at Ocean Breeze Park Track & Field Athletic Center. With two events left, the men’s team scores were tied at 155.0 points between the Wildcats and Marquette, the eventual runners-up. The Villanova men finished with 181 points. Marquette ended with 173 points. For the women, the meet was decided by four points with Villanova winning with 152 points and Marquette finishing with 148 points. The Championships were presented by Jeep.
The four-point margin of victory on the women’s size was the closest since Villanova defeated Georgetown in the 2014 championship, 159.5 points to 157 points. The Villanova women were in third place after the first day. The men were in second. Marquette, the runners-up on both the men’s and the women’s sides led for both after Friday.
The Wildcats won six events on the women’s side and five on the men’s side. Villanova won all six relays.
The BIG EAST coaches voted both Villanova’s men’s and women’s coaching staffs as Coaching Staff of the Year, led by Marcus O’Sullivan and Gina Procaccio. Villanova’s Siofra Cleirigh Buttner broke the meet record in the 800-meter run and was the anchor of the 4x400-meter relay squad. She shared the Most Outstanding Track Performer of the Meet with St. John’s senior Maya Stephens who won both the 400-meter, 200-meter sprints and anchored the Red Storm’s runner-up 4x400-meter relay squad. Buttner was also the MOP in 2017. The Red Storm finished third on the women’s side with 123 points. Marquette senior Terica Harris won both the women’s Most Outstanding Field Performer as well as the Women’s High Point Performer of the Meet. Harris won both the triple jump and long jump and finished third in the 60-meter dash. She also ran as part of the fourth-place Marquette 4x400-meter relay team.
For the men, Georgetown’s Jonathan Green won the Most Outstanding Track Performer of the Meet with his meet record win in the 5,000-meter run. Marquette sophomore Daniel Armstrong won the Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Meet. Armstrong won the high jump event at 2.20 meters. He outlasted his competitors at the 2.00 meter height, but, continued to try to qualify for NCAA competition. He currently ranks 15th on the national list. The men’s High Point Performer of the Meet was DePaul junior Brian Mada won both the triple jump and long jump and put up 20 points for the Blue Demons. The Blue Demons finished third with 117 points.
All the votes for the major award were unanimous. Votes were cast by the league’s head coaches with no votes cast for themselves or their own student-athletes.
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Villanova swept the podium for the first final of Championship Saturday. Nicole Hutchinson led the way for the Wildcat trio in the women’s mile with a 4:39.13 finish. Coming in second was Kaley Ciluffo at 4:42.61. Completing the podium was Lauren Ryan (4:44.76). Villanova had not won the women’s mile since 2015. For the men, Georgetown’s Amos Bartelsmeyer was the BIG EAST champion with a time of 4:09.10. Bartelsmeyer came into the championship with the fastest mile time, 3:57.53. Bartelsmeyer was joined on the podium by Daniel Garcia of Butler (4:10.39) and Villanova’s Logan Wetzel (4:10.64).
In the 60-meter hurdles DePaul won both the women’s and men’s titles. Blue Demon junior Alexia Brooks won the women’s title with a personal best of 8.33 seconds. Danielle Burns of Villanova came in second at 8.63 seconds and DePaul’s Ariel Davis came in third with a time of 8.65 seconds. For the men, DePaul junior Kyle Decker earned the three-peat in the event with his personal best time of 8.24 seconds. He was joined on the medal stand by Mathew Peter of Marquette (8.37 seconds) and fellow Blue Demon Evan Lowry (8.44 seconds).
For the 400-meter event, St. John’s continued its dominance winning its fourth-consecutive title. St. John’s senior Maya Stephens defended her title in the event with a time of 54.14, leading from wire to wire. Her winning time in 2017 was 54.61. It is the fifth time since 2011 St. John’s took the top spot on the podium in the event. In second was Villanova’s McKenna Keegan (55.17) and in third was Stephens’ teammate, freshman Leah Anderson (55.75). Both Keegan and Anderson competed in the first heat. Stephens’ win came out of the second heat. For the men, Harry Purcell and Brian Faust finished No. 1 and 2 for the Villanova Wildcat. Purcell came out of the first heat to win the event with a time of 47.49. Villanova hasn’t won the event since Elvis Lewis had a three-peat from 2007-09. Faust’s time was 47.69. Two-time defending champ Sebastian Feyersinger from DePaul finished third at 48.42.
Stephens and Anderson finished first and third in the 200-meter dash as well as Stephens won her second event of the meet at 24.19 seconds. St. John’s won the 200-meter event for the first time in 2017. Georgetown’s Jody-Ann Knight came in second at 24.29. Anderson’s crossed the finish at 24.41. Georgetown won the 200-meter dash on the men’s side as Freshman Nate Alleyne raced to a 21.51 finish in his BIG EAST Indoor Championship debut. In second was Villanova’s Sterling Pierce with a time of 21.53. In third was 2015 and 2016 champion Feyersinger (21.75).
Another Georgetown freshman, Rey Rivera, won the 800-meter run on the men’s side, crossing the tape at 1:49.97. The Hoyas also took second with Spencer Brown at 1:50.28. Villanova’s Ville Lampinen came in third at 1:50.88. Villanova senior Siofra Cleirigh Buttner set a new met record in the women’s 800 at 2:03.89, surpassing the old record of 2:04.85 set by Georgetown’s Sabrina Southerland in 2014. The Wildcats swept the podium as Rachel McArthur finished second at 2:06.43 and Kelsey Margery finished third at 2:08.09.
In the women’s 60-meter dash, Villanova sophomore Trudy-Ann Williamson won the event at 7.37 seconds, .10 seconds off the meet record. The time also sets a new Villanova record, which Williamson set as a rookie last season. Joining Williamson on the podium was DePaul’s Brooks (7.60) and Marquette’s Harris (7.63). Marquette senior Joshua Word became the first Golden Eagle to win a 60-meter sprint title as he took the top spot on the podium with a time of 6.86 seconds. The runner-up was Adam Nelson from DePaul (6.88 seconds) with Villanova’s Pierce in third (6.89).
For the final individual event on the track, Providence’s Millie Paladino won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:18.45. Paladino became the first Friar since Laura Nagel in 2014 to win the race. Georgetown finished second and third with Margie Cullen (9:30.23) and Margie Cullen (9:34.94). For the men, Villanova junior Casey Comber won with time of 8:05.39. He was joined on the podium by Butler’s Barry Keane (8:07.13) and Georgetown’s Nicholas Wareham (8:08.97).
Marquette’s Maya Marion regained her shot put title from last year’s winner, DePaul’s Emily Eller. Marion had won the event in 2016. Marion finished with a throw of 15.43 meters. Eller was the runner-up this year at 14.57 meters. Marion’s throw in 2016 was 13.97 meters. Marion finished as the runner-up in 2017. In third was St. John’s Bernadette McGowan with a throw of 13.61 meters. On the men’s side, DePaul’s Kyle Hedge also defended his title with a throw of 15.99 meters. Marquette’s Terrance Howard came in second with a distance of 15.42 meters. Villanova’s Henry Sise completed the podium with a throw of 15.12 meters.
DePaul’s Brian Mada earned his second gold medal of the meet with an event win in the men’s triple jump with a distance of 15.10 meters. Mada is the three-time champion in the event. His finish of 15.10 as the best result of the BIG EAST indoor meet. Marquette’s Samuel Johnson came in second (14.43 meters) with Blue Demon Chris Cadet in third (14.03 meters). On the women’s side, Marquette’s Harris also won her second title of the championship as she too won the long jump on Friday. Harris repeated as the women’s indoor triple jump champion, this year winning with a jump of 11.82 meters. St. John’s Anointing Onuoha came in second (11.71 meters) and DePaul’s Jade Nolan came in third (11.55 meters).
The men’s heptathlon finished up with Marquette’s William Eggers coming out on top with 5,234 points. Butler’s Wade Walder, the 2017 champion, came in second with 5,179 points. In third was Villanova’s Zack McDermott with 4,925 points.
Villanova continued its dominance in the relays winning all four on Saturday. The 4x800 women won with the team of Hutchinson, Ciluffo, Margery and McArthur crossing the finish easily at 8:44.25. The 4x400-meter women’s team came from behind in the anchor leg to win at 3:42.01. The squad had three return from last year’s winning team: Keegan McKenna, Amari Onque-Shabazz and Cleirigh Buttner. The led leg was run by Danielle Burns. Villanova’s relay wins won the meet for the Wildcat women as no Villanova high jumpers were entered in the meet. Villanova won all three relays on the women’s side in 2017 as well.
On the men’s side, Villanova won the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 7:32.76 as anchor Ishmael Muhammed came from behind to outrun the leader, Georgetown’s Spencer Brown. Running with Muhammed was Zach Swensen, Ben Malone and Nick Steele. It was Villanova’s fourth-straight win in the event. In the men’s 4x400-meter relay, the final event on the track for the meet, anchor Faust raced to the 3:12.84 finish for the gold. The Wildcats just needed to beat the eventual fourth-place time of 3:19.39 to win the meet. In addition to Faust, the squad consisted of Amir Brock, Ville Lampinen and Purcell.
Saturday finished with the women’s and men’s high jump events. Marquette’s Daniel Armstrong was the lone man standing. He finished up at 2.20 meters. Armstrong’s runner-up was Villanova’s Ryan Tompkins (2.00 meters). Wildcat teammate Jacob Kelly came in third (1.65 meters). For the women, Marquette’s Marin McClowery won at 1.70 meters. Also reaching that height was a tie at second place between DePaul’s Caroline Muller and Marquette’s Lindsey Mirkes.
Men (FINAL)
1. Villanova – 181 pts.
2. Marquette – 173
3. DePaul – 117
4. Georgetown – 103
5. Butler – 74
6. Providence – 26
7. Xavier – 19
Women (FINAL)
1. Villanova – 152 pts.
2. Marquette – 148
3. St. John’s – 123
4. DePaul – 115
5. Georgetown – 81
6. Providence – 40
7. Butler – 31
8. Xavier – 10
Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year: Villanova
Men’s Most Outstanding Performer in Field Events: Daniel Armstrong, Marquette
Men’s Most Outstanding Performer in Track Events: Jonathan Green, Georgetown
Men’s High Point Performer of the Meet: Brian Mada, DePaul (20 points)
Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year: Villanova *
Women’s Most Outstanding Performer in Field Events: Terica Harris, Marquette *
Women’s Most Outstanding Co-Performers in Track Events: Maya Stephens, St. John’s; Siofra Cleirigh Buttner, Villanova #
Women’s High Point Performer of the Meet: Terica Harris, Marquette (27.5 points) *
* Denotes unanimous selection | # Won the same award in 2017