The women’s track and field team finished first in the overall team standings last weekend at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va.  

Six Wildcats were victorious in their respective events, including junior Shanice Grant, who won a total of three races.

Individually, Grant won the 100-meter hurdle championship with a time of 13.68 and was also first in the 200-meter run, finishing in 24.21.  She was also a part of the women’s 4×100-meter relay team that broke a school record by winning the event with a time of 46.34.

Seniors Varonica Johnson and Emerald Wallace, along with freshman Melissa June, joined Grant in completing the event ahead of 26 other teams and breaking Villanova’s 16-year-old event record by .14 seconds.

Johnson added a pair of third place finishes in individual events for the Wildcats, finishing behind Grant in the 200-meter race and acting as the lone Villanova representative to place in the 100-meter final.

Wallace earned points for the Wildcats in an individual race as well, finishing third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.23.

June was the anchor for the 4×100 meter team, and also ran with the sprint medley relay that finished second out of 24 teams.

Villanova also dominated the women’s distance events, with three Wildcats placing in the top four of both the 1500-meter and 3000-meter race.

Senior Stephanie Schappert won the 1500-meter race with a time of 4:17.25 followed by junior Angel Piccirillo in second and freshman Siofra Cleirigh Buttner in fourth.  

Sophomore Julie Williams finished in first place in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:00.84 and was followed by junior Caitlin Bungo in second and sophomore Alex Russo in third.

These six runners combined for 46 of the Wildcats 148 total team points across these two events.

Senior Katherine Petruzzellis was Villanova’s standout performer in the field events, placing second in the high jump and tying her personal best with a height of five feet, seven inches.

The men’s team finished in a tie for fifth place in the teamstandings with three individual first-place finishes and a win in the distance medley relay.

Headlining the individual events for the Wildcats was senior Elbert Maxwell who tied a personal best and Colonial Relay meet record with a height of 25 feet, 3/4 inches in the long jump.

Maxwell entered the meet in sixth place on the nation’s top long jump list this season and finds himself in the fourth spot amongst Villanova’s all-time top jumpers in this event.

Sophomore Patrick Tiernan made his 2015 outdoor season debut by winning the 5000-meter run in 13:59.33 and sophomore Josh Lampron won the 1500-meter race with a time of 3:47.60.

Lampron was also part of Villanova’s victorious distance medley relay team along with junior Jordy Williamsz, sophomore Harry Warnick and freshman Ishmael Muhammad.  In one of the Wildcats’ strongest events, the team finished on top of a field of 13 teams with a time of 9:58.05.

The men’s 4×800-meter relay team finished in second place by a slim margin.  

Seniors Rob Denault, Dusty Solis, Chris O’Sullivan and redshirt freshman Ben Malone competed and ran a time of 7:33.29, just .36 seconds out of first place. 

Both the men’s and women’s teams are scheduled to send athletes to the Delaware Open in Newark, Del. and the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. on Saturday.