Feb. 23, 2003

On Saturday, Feb. 22, the Villanova men's and women's track & field teams traveled to Syracuse, N.Y., where they competed in the first day of competition at the 2003 Big East Conference Indoor Championships held at the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University.

The Wildcat women finished day one in sixth place with 17 points, while the Villanova men currently own the eighth position in the team standings with 10 points. Notre Dame leads the women's standings with 36.50 points and the Connecticut men set the pace with 34 points.

In women's action, Villanova sophomore Michelle Ezzie finished second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.65m. Jaime Volkmer of Notre Dame captured the event by clearing 4.00m. Senior Christine Heffernan placed eighth in the weight throw with a mark of 15.82m.

The Villanova women also had a strong showing in the Distance Medley Relay, as the team of Rebecca Mitchell, Melanie Rhoden, Ioana Parusheva and Marina Muncan finished second with a time of 11:25.60. Notre Dame finished just ahead of the Wildcats with a clocking of 11:24.45.

Highlighting the day for the Villanova men was the DMR team that tallied first place honors with a time of 9:53.86. The four members of the winning team included Adrian Blincoe, Pat Hickey, Jason Jabaut and Ryan Hayden.

Both teams will return to action on Sunday, Feb. 23 for the final day of competition at the 2003 Big East Championships.