VILLANOVA, Pa. – Sophomore Nick Crosta (Toms River, N.J.) won the men's decathlon to help guide the Rutgers men's track and field team to its fourth place standing at the 2008 Outdoor BIG EAST Championships. The Scarlet Knights currently hold fourth place with 34 points behind Connecticut in third with 35 points, Louisville in second with 54 points and Notre Dame in the overall lead with 58 points.

The first day (Friday) of competition at the championship meet featured the decathlon events in which the Scarlet Knights had two members participate. Crosta won the high jump, clearing a height of 6' 10 3/4" and finished second in the javelin throw with a mark of 168' 9". He also took third in the long jump with a leap of 22' 7 3/4". Junior Tim Matlack (Little Silver, N.J.) placed third in the 1,500-meter with a time of 4:36.20 and took fourth in both the high jump (6' 3 1/2") and the 400-meter dash (50.55) to highlight RU's performances in the multi events.

Crosta and Matlack continued on day two with Crosta posting 6,934 points to win the men's decathlon, while Matlack placed fourth with 6,612 points. Both marks were qualifiers for the upcoming outdoor IC4A Championships.

Sophomore Bruce Owens (Wenonah, N.J.) finished third in the preliminaries and advanced to the finals of the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.65, while junior Kyle Grady (East Brunswick, N.J.) qualified for the finals of the 110-meter hurdles after clocking a time of 14.33 (8th).

Owens also advanced to the finals of the 200-meter dash with a fifth-place showing in a time of 21.24. In the preliminaries of the 400-meter dash, sophomore Nii-Amon Robertson (Plainfield, N.J.) took fourth with a time of 47.95 and qualified for the finals on Sunday.