Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets | BEDN (Friday) | BEDN (Saturday) | Live Results | Villanova Notes | Directions

VILLANOVA, Pa.--One of the biggest weekends of the track & field season is on tap at Villanova Stadium this week, as the Villanova men's track & field team sets its sights on the outdoor BIG EAST Track & Field Championships presented by Jeep. The conference championship returns to Villanova Stadium for the sixth time in the last 10 years this Friday and Saturday when seven men's and eight women's teams converge on the Main Line.

Tickets will be on sale during competition (there are no advance ticket sales) at the Villanova Stadium ticket office. All tickets are for general admission seating. The cost is $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children under the age of 18, as well as for senior citizens. Students from any BIG EAST school will be admitted free with their student ID.

Competition begins each day with the multi-events at 10 a.m., while the first running event is scheduled for 1 p.m. both Friday and Saturday afternoons. The meet concludes with an awards ceremony on Saturday evening at approximately 5:45 p.m. Live action from Villanova Stadium will air on the BIG EAST Digital Network, which can be accessed via the Fox Sports GO app from a computer, tablet or other mobile device.

One of the Villanova storylines to watch for this weekend is the Wildcats depth across all disciplines. Villanova will be strong as always in the distance events, but the team has an exciting group of sprinters and field athletes who will also be contenders in their respective events.

Sophomore sprinter Sterling Pierce (Voorhees, N.J.) was the men's Outstanding Track Performer last year after winning both the 100 meters and the 200 meters at the BIG EAST meet. Despite being slowed by an injury earlier this year, Pierce is running near top form entering the weekend. He ran the 100 meters at the Penn Relays and had a season-best time of 10.86 in the preliminary heats there. His lifetime best mark of 10.64 came at last year's BIG EAST meet. Pierce was also in the lineup for both the 4x100 relay and the 4x400 relay at the Penn Relays.

Two other sprinters to keep an eye on are senior Kyle Cartwright (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) and sophomore Harry Purcell (Dublin, Ireland). Cartwright enters the meet with the second-fastest time in the BIG EAST this season in the 400 meter hurdles. That mark - of 53.77 - came in the championship section of the Penn Relays and was also the second-fastest time of Cartwright's career. He previously ran 53.33 to clinch the BIG EAST title at the 2015 conference championships. Purcell is the reigning outdoor BIG EAST champion in the 400 meters and was the runner-up indoors earlier this year. He has a lifetime best of 47.33 in the 400 meters, although he ran a split of 46.77 on the 400 meter leg of the DMR at the Penn Relays last month.

Redshirt freshman Logan Wetzel (Saline, Mich.) has come on strong this season after returning to action in January following a year-long absence from competition due to an injury. He is slated to run the 1500 meters this weekend, and his season-best mark of 3:45.11 currently ranks third among BIG EAST runners. Wetzel ran the anchor leg of the distance medley relay and the leadoff leg of the 4x800 meter relay at the Penn Relays two weeks ago, and was a BIG EAST champion as part of the Wildcats lineup in each of those relays at the indoor conference meet.

Middle distance runners Ben Malone (River Vale, N.J.), Ville Lampinen (Vantaa, Finland) and Ishmael Muhammad (Mays Landing, N.J.) will also be contenders in their respective events. Malone will be one of five entries for Villanova in the 1500 meters, and he is part of the program's exclusive club of sub-four minute milers. Malone's personal best of 3:39.82 in the 1500 meters, set last June following the conclusion of the collegiate season, is the equivalent of a 3:57.34 mile. His season-best 1500 meters time of 3:48.05 came in his most recent race at the Jim Kehoe Invitational last week in Maryland.

Lampinen and Muhammad will each be running in the 800 meters this weekend. Lampinen was an All-BIG EAST performer in the event at last year's outdoor meet when he recorded a third place finish. He also anchored the Wildcats to a conference title in the 4x400 meter relay as a freshman. This year, Lampinen is coming off a personal best split of 1:47.81 on the 800 meter leg of the DMR at the Penn Relays. He followed that up by running a split of 1:49.72 on the anchor leg of the 4x800 relay a day later. Muhammad scored in the 800 meters at the BIG EAST Championships last season when he tallied a seventh place finish, and he has a lifetime best of 1:48.31 which was set at the 2015 USATF Junior National Championships.

On the distance side, redshirt freshmen Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.) and Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.) are local products who have made a big impact this season. Comber led off the Wildcats champion distance medley relay at the indoor BIG EAST meet and has a great deal of potential as a steeplechase runner outdoors. He ran a personal best time of 9:10.10 in the steeplechase at the Larry Ellis Invitational earlier this season. Marston was the BIG EAST runner-up in the 5000 meters indoors, and set personal bests in both the 5K (14:17.37) and the 3000 meters (8:15.23) at the indoor conference meet.

Villanova has won seven BIG EAST team titles and a record 122 individual events all-time at the outdoor conference meet. Meet records in the 400 meter hurdles and the 1500 meters were each set by Wildcats student-athletes over the years, and Villanova also holds the current meet records in both the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay. At last year's outdoor BIG EAST Championships, the Wildcats won four individual events, two relays and earned a total of 21 All-BIG EAST honors.