May 25, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Senior sensation Bobby Curtis won the 5,000m event at the NCAA East Regional Championships at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Curtis out-sprinted renowned participant Josh McDougal from Liberty to clinch the title in 13:52.07, while clocking an amazing 4:11.00 in the final mile. With the first place victory, Curtis has secured himself a spot at the NCAA competition in June.

Other Wildcats also posted solid performances this afternoon to kick off the first day of competition. Four runners, two men and two women, recorded tremendous showings in today's preliminaries to catapult themselves into tomorrow's finals.

Leading the way for the men were senior Michael Kerrigan and sophomore Elvis Lewis. Kerrigan, who most recently clocked a sub-four minute mile, represented Villanova in the 1,500m to start the meet. His outstanding time of 3:46.44 placed him ninth overall heading into the finals. Lewis also put his best foot forward today as he ran a blazing 46.62 in the 400m preliminaries to rank him fourth among his competitors.

On the women's side, senior leadership carried the Wildcats into tomorrow's finals. Akilah Vargas was the first female to get Villanova on the board as she clocked an impressive 4:19.68 in the 1,500m preliminaries to place seventh overall. Monique Morgan also continued her winning ways in the hurdle portion of the meet. Morgan posted an outstanding 13.18 in the 100m hurdle event to rank sixth.

The Wildcats will look to bring championship titles back to the Main Line when they compete in the finals tomorrow afternoon. The first race of the day is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.