PHILADELPHIA – Thursday, April 24, kicked off the 129th annual Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field. The relays take place over three days from Thursday to Saturday.
Villanova has a storied history at the Penn Relays and set the collegiate 4xMile record at last year’s relays. The men’s Distance Medley Relay and 4xMile teams will look to shatter their records with sights set on a world record.
Eight Wildcats collected personal bests on just Day One of the Penn Relays.
Senior Sadie Sigfstead closed the night with a personal best for a first-place finish in the women’s 10K. In only her second race of the 2025 outdoor season, Sigfstead ran a 32:39.54 to beat her previous personal record of 32:45.56 set at Raleigh Relays last outdoor season in 2024.
It marks the second-best women’s 10K time in school history.
Freshman Olivia Allen won her heat and set a personal record with a time of 59.45. Allen now has the fifth fastest women’s 400-meter time in program history. Her previous personal best was 59.75 set at last year’s Big East Championships on May 11, 2024.
Allen has now set new personal records in both the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter open (54.70) this outdoor season.
In the 1500-meter portion of the Penn Relays, the women kicked things off. Senior Emily Robinson set a personal best in back-to-back weekends. Robinson’s time of 4:19.88 shaved nearly three seconds off her personal best and landed her 7th in her heat and 19th overall. Last weekend, Robinson set her previous record of 4:22.73 at the Virginia Challenge.
Sophomore Tilly O’Connor also accomplished a personal best, finishing with a time of 4:20.05 to place ninth in the third heat. O’Connor set her former best at the Raleigh Relays on March 28 with a time of 4:24.01.
Freshman Maggie Smith came in ninth place in her heat with a time of 4:22.86. Sixth-year Maggie Smith was the last Wildcat to cross the finish line at 4:24.53.
On the men’s side, Ben Thomas was in the opening 1500-meter heat of the day. He finished eighth in his heat and 18th overall with a time of 3:47.91. Two other Wildcats — sophomores Kai Mitchell-Reiss and Brian Theobald — ran together in a heat separate from Thomas.
Mitchell-Reiss shaved two seconds off his personal best from high school. He finished 27th overall with a new personal best of 3:50.21. Theobald picked up a personal best of 3:52.84. His previous best of 3:52.59 was set earlier this season at the Sam Howell Invitational on April 4.
Shaving nearly 10 seconds off her previous best, senior Margaret Carroll finished the 5,000-meter race at 16:30.20, landing her 21st overall. Carroll shattered her old record of 16:40.45 that was set back at the Big East Championships in May 2024.
To close out the 5K portion of the evening for Villanova, freshman Charlie Moore ran a 13:48.90. He shaved nearly five seconds off his previous personal best of 13:53.17, which he set at the Raleigh Relays last month on March 27.
Villanova men’s and women’s track and field will return to the Penn Relays on Friday, April 25, when the highly anticipated men’s DMR will take place (2:15 p.m., FloSports).
A small group of women will also head up to participate in the Carol & John Covert Classic at Lehigh University on Friday, April 25 in order to possibly get qualifying times for the NCAA National Championships in May.
