Six Advance, Four Ousted on Day 1 of NCAA East Regional

Three Villanova men and three women advanced out of the preliminary heats today at Indiana University, host of the NCAA East Regional.

Villanova qualified a pair of 1500 meter runners each on the men's and women's side. For the men, Matt Gibney finished 2nd in his heat in 3:48.45, while Brian Tetreault was 5th in his heat in 3:49.06. For the women, Sheila Reid and Emily Lipari were both in heat #5. Reid won the heat in 4:22.43, while Lipari was 5th in 4:23.47. All four advance to the semifinals on Saturday. Kelly McElroy failed to advance in the 1500, coming 11th in heat #3 in 4:39.07.

The fifth Villanovan to advance was Ariann Neutts, who ran 2:08.06 in heat #2 of the 800 meters, where she finished fourth. Her semi-final will take place Friday.

Finally, Nicoy Hines ran 52.27 to finish 3rd in his 400 meter hurdles heat, qualifying him for the semifinals on Friday.

Senior Amanda Marino (right) was the fastest non-qualifier in the women's 10,000 meters. Marino ran 33:57.75 and finished 13th in a race where the top 12 advance to the national meet. It was the final race in a Villanova singlet for the six-time All-American standout from New Jersey. Similarly, senior Keith Capecci, the Big East runner-up at the distance, ran 29:51.43 to finish 22nd in the 48-man field of the 10,000 meters.

Finally, Ashlynn Llerandi, Villanova's school record holder in the pole vault, no heighted today, failing three times to clear the opening 3.70 meter bar.

On the schedule for Friday:

* Shericka Ward in heat #4 of the 100 meter hurdles preliminaries
* Ariann Neutts in heat #2 of the 800 meter semifinals
* Sarah Morrison in heat #3 of the 3000 meter steeplechase preliminaries
* Nicoy Hines in heat #1 of the 400 meter hurdles semifinals