Mollica wins 400m hurdles, Wildcats produce eight PRs at Big 5 Invitational

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Junior sprinter Nicholas Mollica (Jackson, NJ) finished first in the 400-meter hurdles and Villanova produced eight personal bests during the competition at the Big 5 Invitational hosted by Penn at Franklin Field on Saturday afternoon. In the competition, the Wildcats had six top three goals and a strong performance by the freshman Amiri Prescod (Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) who recorded PR results in both the 100m and 200m.

Prescod, who is on the Villanova roster this season and scored in the 60m at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships, opened the outdoor season with Saturday’s meet. He finished third in the 100m in 10.78 and finished fourth in the 200m in 21.85. Prescod is the Wildcats’ only sprinter to compete in either of those events so far this early in the outdoor campaign.

Villanova’s lone event winner was Mollica, running the 400-meter hurdles for the second time this year, pacing the nine-runner field with a time of 53.52. He cut nearly seven-tenths of a second off the Penn Challenge two weeks ago (54.20) as a senior Mac Costonis (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) finished seventh with a time of 56.26.

Freshman sprinter Jimmy Milgie (Wildwood, Mo.) was second out of 15 competitors in the 400m in 48.55, while two other Wildcats posted personal bests. Junior Jakob Kuzner (George Town, Grand Cayman) finished fifth in 49.05, freshman Luke Rakowitz (Dallas, Texas) posted a PR of 49.37 as a freshman Ronan O’Neill (Wilmette, Ill.) crossed the line in 50.23 and junior William Seijas (Shrewsbury, NJ) achieved his own record time of 50.90.

Villanova went 2-3-4 in the 1,500 meters with the fifth-year trio Evan Addison (Collegeville, Pa.)redshirt freshman Devon Comber (Ambler, father) and older Miller Anderson (West Hartford, Conn.). Addison recorded a time of 3:48.39, while Comber (3:49.46) and Anderson (3:49.51) each posted record times of their own. Fifth year Henry Myers (Portland, Ore.) placed seventh in 3:50.39 and fifth on the year Ben Seiple (Westport, Conn.) The PR was 3:51.86.

Another middle distance event was on the schedule for the day’s Wildcats event for the fifth year Trevor Potts (Sparta, NJ) produced a time of 1:54.38 in 800 meters.

In field events, freshman Daelyn Nwaobasi (Nashville, Tenn.) achieved his personal record in the long jump for the second time in as many events with a distance of 6.65 meters. Sophomore pitcher Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, father) and a freshman Liam Anderson (Lebanon, NJ) competed in the throwing events, where Bolinsky placed third in the hammer with a throw of 50.33 meters and placed seventh in the discus with 45.36 meters. Anderson recorded 13.23 meters in the shot put and 31.23 meters in the discus.

Villanova’s schedule for the coming week includes competition at both the Duke Invitational and the Miami Alumni Invitational.