The Wildcats continued their success in the indoor season as the women’s track and field team competed against 12 teams at the Villanova Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 22 in Ocean Breeze, Staten Island. The Wildcats finished their home meet with six individual wins and many athletes setting new personal bests. This meet follows their first place win in the Penn-10 Competition the week prior. 

Graduate student Sade Meeks broke the school’s 20-year weight throw record in the Penn-10 last week, throwing 17.98 meters. This week, she shattered her own record and threw a personal best of 20.88 meters, which is currently ranked 13th in the country for this indoor season. The second-place finisher managed a throw of 16.84 meters. Additionally, Meeks placed first in the shot put, with a throw of 14.18 meters, placing her in eighth for the longest throw in Wildcat history. 

Junior Jane Livingston earned first place in the preliminary heats for the 60-meter hurdles, finishing in 8.32 seconds. This qualified her for the finals, where she held onto her first place position with a time of 8.40, placing her in fourth for the event in Villanova history.    

Three Wildcats competed in the preliminary heat for the 600m dash where senior Trinity Hart finished in 7.89, junior Alexis Martin in 8.06 and senior Olivia Morgan in 8.28. 

In the 400 meter competition, graduate student McKenna Keegan placed first, with a time of 54.71. 

Junior Madison Martinez ran a time of 1:15.12 in the 500 meter race, securing first place for the Wildcats, while freshman Alex Stasichin followed in third place with a time of 1:16.00.

Another top finisher, junior Anna Helwigh, competed in the 1000 meter race in 2:51.76 followed by junior Nikki Merrill, who finished in seventh place with a time of 2:58.16. 

Graduate student Jul Thomson ranked top 10 in the weight throw competition, reaching a distance of 16.55 meters. Thomson also placed fourth in the shot put with a new personal best of 13.38 meters. Senior Emily Galvin threw 16.15 meters in the weight throw competition, placing her at the sixth in the record books. Galvin also competed in the shot put and threw for 11.50 meters while graduate student Samantha Stevens threw 13.73 meters in the weight throw and 12.45 meters in the shot put. 

Also competing in the shot put was senior Liv Morgan, who threw 10.15 meters. Morgan also made an appearance in the 60 meter dash, running an 8.28. She is expected to compete in multi-events later this season. 

Villanova claimed second through fifth place in the mile on Saturday with junior Maggie Smith coming in second with a time of 4:41.07. Finishing behind Smith by less than 0.6 seconds, senior Lydia Olivere placed third with 4:41.59, followed by freshman Sadie Sigfstead, with a time of  4:51.89, all three marking new personal bests in the event. With a time of 4:55.61, freshman Emma McGill finished in fifth place. 

In the 4×400 meter relay, Villanova finished second, with a cumulative time of 3:49.16, as junior Alexis Martin kicked off the race with a time of 59.32, followed by Martinez with 56.76, Keegan in 54.00 and Stasichin closing out the race with a 59.08 split.  

Other notable events include senior Ashley Preston finishing in third in the pole vault event, clearing 3.70 meters, and sophomore Roschell Clayton coming in second in the high jump, with a distance of 1.70 meters.
Villanova returns to action on Friday, Jan. 28 when it travels to Boston University to compete in the John Thomas Terrier Classic.