May 5, 2001

After two days of competition at the 2001 Big East Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Rutgers University, the Villanova women are currently in third place in the team standings, while the Wildcat men are fifth. The final day of competition will be held on Sunday, May 6.

The Villanova women, who have 33 points, trail first place Rutgers (39 points) by just six points. Miami is second with 35 points. Villanova was led on Saturday by senior Ann McGranahan who placed second in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 35:13.74. Georgetown's Marina Kruppa won the race in 34:40.01. Wildcat senior Kara Kerr earned valuable points for the team in the 10,000, finishing in sixth with a clocking of 36:40.78. Also in the distance events, sophomore Liz Awtrey ran to a third place finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 10:34.30, while freshman Carre Joyce was timed in 11:19.66 to finish seventh.

Villanova also had a strong day in the field events. In the shot put, Melinda Boykin finished third with a throw of 14.37m, while Christine Heffernan was sixth and seventh respectively in the discus (44.64m) and javelin (41.14m). Marlena Robinson recorded a leap of 12.23m and placed sixth in the triple jump.

On the men's side, Villanova sits in fifth position with 25 points. West Virginia leads the way with 50 points, followed by Georgetown with 48 points. Connecticut and Notre Dame are tied for third with 34 points each.

Junior Mark Blattner had an outstanding day for Villanova, finishing third in the shot put (16.26m) and fourth in the discus (47.82m). Sophomore Pat Moore also scored in the shot, placing eighth with a mark of 15.36m.

In the distance events, Geoff Nickerson ran 9:10.93 to place sixth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, while senior Scott Tantino registered an eighth place effort in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 30:21.76.

Junior Antoine Johnson also scored for the 'Cats, finishing third in the long jump with a leap of 7.39m.