COMPLETE RESULTS
DAY 2 HEAT SHEETS
GENEVA, Ohio – The first day of competition at the 2018 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships presented by Jeep concluded after 14 preliminary events, seven scored men’s events and six scored women’s events. In team scoring, Marquette leads on the men’s side with 99.5 points, a 37-point margin over current No. 2 Villanova. The women’s side is neck-and-neck as Villanova leads with 54 points, followed closely by St. John’s in second with 50 and DePaul in third with 47.
Day 2 of the championships at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, begins tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET with men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon, with field events beginning at noon. Running events start at 1 p.m. The BIG EAST Digital Network will begin live coverage at 1 p.m., recapping the morning’s results before kicking off with the women’s 4x100-meter relay.
Marquette men won four field events on the afternoon and totaled eight top-three finishes to jump out to the lead. Villanova men claimed two first-place finishes and five total top-three finishes. On the women’s side, five different teams took home gold-medal honors over the six events, with only Villanova winning more than one. The Wildcats claimed two event titles and five top-three finishes.
Jade Gates became DePaul’s first BIG EAST hammer throw champion as the rookie recorded a winning toss of 53.73 meters. Two-time hammer throw champ Nyla Woods of St. John’s finished in second (53.15m), while Marquette collected the lion’s share of points (17), led by a third-place finish by Keely Knobbe (50.80m). The BIG EAST men’s hammer throw leader in 2018, Brendan McKinney of Marquette earned his first league title with a toss of 56.88 meters, becoming the third Golden Eagle in the last five years to win the event. MU tallied 19 points in the men’s hammer, including Terrance Howard’s third-place finish, while DePaul also posted 19 points, highlighted by Dominic Marshall’s second-place distance (54.08m).
In the women’s long jump, Erica Graham of St. John’s won the event for the second time in three seasons, recording a winning length of 5.86 meters. The senior already had the best mark in the BIG EAST this season (6.11m), recorded just five days ago. DePaul saw four earn points in the event towards a total of 18 points, including Gabrielle Howard (second, eight points) and Jade Nolan (third, six points). Samuel Johnson became the third consecutive Golden Eagle to claim the men’s long jump title, recording a winning leap of 7.00m. MU took two of the top three spots, with Cory Cegelski (6.82m) finishing third. DePaul junior Brian Mada, who has the top distance in the BIG EAST this season at 7.44m, finished second with a jump of 6.85m. The Golden Eagles earned 16 points in the event, while Villanova, led by Vincent Sengelmann’s fourth-place finish (6.70m), collected nine.
Villanova women earned their biggest haul in points (27) in the pole vault, led by Amanda McNelis’ first-place finish. The freshman, who has the top height in the event in the BIG EAST this season (3.95m), became the first Wildcat to win the event since 2015, eclipsing the bar at 3.55 meters. Marquette’s Gemma Tedeschi (second) and Villanova’s Dominique Franco (third) also reached 3.55m, with McNelis doing it in the least number of attempts.
Marquette had an impressive showing in the men’s pole vault, taking first, second, third, two tied for fourth and one tied for sixth to total 29.5 points. MU’s Joel Swanberg won the title, eclipsing the bar at 4.95 meters – the best at the BIG EAST Championship since 2013. Swanberg already owns the top height in the BIG EAST this season (5.00m).
Rounding out the women’s field events on the day, Villanova freshman Taryn Ashby won the javelin with a throw of 45.28 meters, the longest at the BIG EAST Championships since 2015. The Wildcats have won the last three javelin gold medals. DePaul took second and third in the event, including Jade Gates’ runner-up throw of 44.42m, to bring home 14 points, tying St. John’s (fourth through seventh) for the event high. Villanova’s Jack Judge became the first Wildcat to claim the men’s javelin title since 2008, recording the top throw by a BIG EAST athlete this season by nearly five meters, recording a winning distance of 65.28m. Five different teams scored points in the event, including Butler with runner-up thrower Wade Walder (59.00m) and Providence with third-place finisher Chris Shanahan (58.29m).
The men’s field events rounded out with the high jump, with Marquette’s Daniel Armstrong attempting to match the BIG EAST record but falling just shy. Armstrong won the event with a height a 2.16m, the best at the conference championships since 2010. The gold medal was Armstrong’s second straight in the event. A pair of Villanova freshmen finished second and third in the event, with Ryan Tompkins and Jacob Kelly both recording 1.96m jumps.
Two running events went straight to finals on the first day of the BIG EAST Championships: the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 10,000-meter run. Georgetown claimed two of the top three spots in the women’s steeplechase, including the first title for sophomore Margie Cullen, who crossed the line in 10:33.42. The Hoyas finished with an event-high 19 points. On the men’s side, Villanova’s Nick Steele became the first Wildcat since 2006 to win the event, snapping the tape in 9:10.39. The VU rookie already owns the BIG EAST’s top time in the steeplechase this season (8:57.50).
In the women’s 10K, Providence senior Catarina Rocha ran the fastest clip at the conference meet since 2014, which was also the last time the Friars brought home the event crown. Rocha finished in 33:39.43, the fastest time by a BIG EAST runner this season. She won by nearly 32 seconds, while teammate Mackenzie Barry finished third at 36:51.88. Villanova’s Bella Burda took home silver medal honors (34:11.19). Nicholas Golebiowski became the second Hoya in three seasons to win the men’s 10K, snapping the tape in 30:10.36, the fastest in the BIG EAST this season. Butler’s Matt Lumbar was on Golebiowski’s heels, finishing just .59 seconds behind for silver medal honors. The Bulldogs took third place as well, with Bobby Johnson finishing in 30:31.51.
After five events in the men’s decathlon, Butler has three of the top four points-earners, led by current frontrunner Wade Walder with 3539 and runner-up Richard Clark with 3398. Marquette’s William Eggers is currently in third with 3397. With four events completed in the women’s heptathlon, St. John’s has the top two in points currently with Antonia Frazier (2788) leading the pack and teammate Eboni Birch (2710) closely behind. Butler’s Elaine Warner is in third with 2452 points.
2018 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Team Scores
Men’s – 7 events scored
1. Marquette – 99.5
2. Villanova – 62.5
3. Butler - 38
4. DePaul - 31
5. Providence - 17
6. Xavier - 14
7. Georgetown - 11
Women’s – 6 events scored
1. Villanova - 54
2. St. John’s - 50
3. DePaul - 47
4. Marquette - 36
5. Georgetown - 21
6. Providence - 16
7. Xavier - 4
8. Butler - 2
2018 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Event Winners
Men’s
10,000-meter Run: Nicholas Golebiowski, Georgetown – 30:10.36
3,000-meter Steeplechase: Nick Steele, Villanova – 9:10.39
High Jump: Daniel Armstrong, Marquette – 2.16m*
Pole Vault: Joel Swanberg, Marquette – 4.95m
Long Jump: Samuel Johnson, Marquette – 7.00m
Hammer Throw: Brendan McKinney, Marquette – 56.88m
Javelin: Jack Judge, Villanova – 65.28m
Women’s
Long Jump – Erica Graham, St. John’s – 5.86m^
Pole Vault – Amanda McNelis, Villanova – 3.55m
Javelin – Taryn Ashby, Villanova – 45.28m
Hammer Throw – Jade Gates, DePaul – 53.73m
10,000-meter Run: Catarina Rocha, Providence – 33:39.43
3,000-meter Steeplechase: Margie Cullen, Georgetown – 10:33.42
*2017 BIG EAST Outdoor Champion
^2016 BIG EAST Outdoor Champion