Wildcats Win Distance Medley Relay on First Day of Penn State National

Greg Morrin also victorious individually in the 5000 meters as two-day meet commences

Jordy Williamsz anchored the distance medley relay as Villanova raced to a comfortable margin of victory at the Penn State National on Friday night.

Jan. 25, 2013

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Villanova enjoyed a successful opening day of competition at the Penn State National and came away with victories in the distance medley relay and the 5000 meters at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track on Friday. The two-day meet began with the Wildcats competing in five events on Friday, highlighted by the two victories.

In its first DMR race of the season Villanova recorded a winning time of 9:52.56 and comfortably paced the field of 10 teams. The lineup of junior Alex Tully (Little Rock, Ark.), junior Chris Fitzsimons (Hamden, Conn.), junior Chris O'Sullivan (Havertown, Pa.) and freshman Jordy Williamsz (Melbourne, Australia) led the Wildcats to a nearly six second margin of victory.

Tully opened up the race with a split of 3:02 on the 1200 meter leg and FitzSimons followed with a strong split of 48.5 in the 400 meters. O'Sullivan was third in the 800 meter leg (1:53) and Williamsz brought the race home with a 4:05 split in the 1600 meters anchor leg.

Junior Greg Morrin (Hockessin, Del.) gave Villanova another highlight with an individual win in the 5000 meters. Morrin paced a field of 15 runners with a time of 14:40.74 to notch a BIG EAST and IC4A qualifying time. His mark was just three seconds off being a career best and was also more than 20 seconds faster than the time he registered in his season-opening race last week.

In the invitational section of the pole vault sophomore Charlie Kido (Nampa, Idaho) tied for fifth place out of nine competitors. He cleared a height of 4.45 meters to earn his best performance of the season to this point and also record a BIG EAST Championships qualifying mark.

Senior Lazaro Tiant (Roselle, N.J.) came in 16th in the long jump with a distance of 6.53 meters and freshman Aaron Sandifer (Harrisburg, N.C.) registered a time of 8.90 in the preliminary heats of the 60 meter hurdles.

Action picks up on Saturday morning at Penn State and will continue throughout the day. The first Villanova race of the day on Saturday is the men's 400 meters at 10:55 a.m., while the team's final event is the 4x400 meter relay at 6:05 p.m. A full recap of the day's action will be posted on Saturday night.

COMPLETE VILLANOVA RESULTS

Pole Vault Invitational

Charlie Kido                 tie-5th of 9                4.45m

Long Jump

Lazaro Tiant                 16th of 20                  6.52m

5000 Meters

Greg Morrin                  1st of 15                   14:40.74

60 Meter Hurdles (preliminaries)

Aaron Sandifier              29th of 29                  8.90      8th of 8 (Heat 3)

Distance Medley Relay Invitational

Villanova                    1st of 10                   9:52.56
Alex Tully                   1200 Meters                 3:02
Chris Fitzsimons             400 Meters                  48.5
Chris O'Sullivan             800 Meters                  1:53
Jordy Williamsz              1600 Meters                 4:05

Villanova University