Over the weekend, the Villanova women’s track and field team escaped the rain in Pennsylvania to compete in the Hurricane Alumni Invitational meet in Coral Gables, Florida. 

“This weekend was more the sprinters and jumpers getting the chance to get out there,” head coach Gina Procaccio said.

This was the high jumpers and hurdlers debut in their respective events. Although the Wildcats only had a few athletes competing, “they had some good technical performances,” Procaccio said. 

Senior Jada Thomas and junior Jane Livingston both competed in the 100 meter hurdles event. Thomas finished in 10th out of 26 competitors, with a time of 14.52, and Livingston clocked in a time of 22.06. Thomas also competed in the 200 meter event and finished in 39th out of 53 competitors, with a mark of 26.02. 

  Junior Sanaä Barnes and sophomore Roschell Clayton both competed in the high jump. Barnes placed first, with a mark of 1.79 meters, and Clayton also finished with a mark of 1.79 meters in second place. This is Clayton’s first time competing for the outdoor season. Both Barnes and Clayton marked the 11th and 12th times in school history that a Wildcat has jumped at least 1.79 meters during the outdoor season. This performance puts both of their names in second place on the Big East performance list for the outdoor season. 

Senior Trinity Hart represented the Wildcats in the long jump event and placed seventh out of 27 competitors, with a mark of 5.67 meters. This is her best jump of the season, which moves her up four spots on the Big East performance list. Her performance over the weekend is also her second-longest jump of her collegiate career. 

“She’s a great kid, and she is just really making the jump this year,” Procaccio said.

Additionally, her coach shared that, like many other athletes, she has not experienced a normal training season since her freshman year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“This was kind of the first year where they had a solid fall training with a full meet schedule for the indoor season,” Procaccio said. “So it’s just showing in her performances, she is really taking off, and we are expecting her to continue on the trajectory and looking for big things from her come conference time.”

While the five athletes competed in Florida, the rest of the team was able to stay home and have a weekend off from competing. Procaccio said that “[they] need those breaks.” Some distance runners have competed three weekends in a row, which makes this weekend a long awaited break from competing.

“When they are competing, [they] don’t train as hard, [as we] have to make sure they are rested to get out there and race,” Procaccio said. 

This allows for the team to heavily prepare for their upcoming competitions in the Virginia Challenge meet the weekend of April 22 and the Penn Relays the following weekend. 

As the team approaches its final regular season meets, Procaccio said that she is “looking to see kids get better and more comfortable in their events, shoot for regional standards and [get] the experience of competing against high level competition.”

“This week, we were ranked 21st in the country, and then we added in a couple of the high jumpers, [and] they are in the top-20 in the country,” she said. “They are 12th in the region, so that should help increase our team rankings this week so we are excited to see where that puts us.” 

Last week, Procaccio mentioned that “everything was going according to plan,” and this week she added that “we are still right on track.”