Villanova Runner Solves Sleeping Troubles

Two years ago, Marcus O’Sullivan, the former miler and now the Villanova men’s track coach, feared for Bobby Curtis’s future.“He’d fall asleep in the middle of a meet,” O’Sullivan once said. “I wasn’t sure if he would be awake for a race. I would enter two names for his relay leg. I thought his career might be over.”The problem was circadian rhythm disorder, which prevented him from sleeping or staying awake. Now Curtis, a senior from Louisville, Ky., is fine, and two weekends ago he ran 3,000 meters in 7 minutes 50.17 seconds, the fastest time indoors by a collegian this winter. He will run the 3,000 and the distance medley in the Big East indoor championships Saturday and Sunday at the Armory Track and Field Center in Upper Manhattan.“I don’t have trouble with sleep now,” Curtis told the New York Track Writers Association by telephone Monday. “At the time, it was a very bad thing. For a while, I was going to bed at 2 a.m. and waking up at 7. I had no energy. It closed down everything. The problem was unbearable. It took four months, but I learned better sleeping habits. Now I sleep from 1 to 9 a.m. I feel good now.”