DMR Official Results

NEW YORK—In a race against the clock and with sights set on putting up a mark that would qualify for the NCAA Championships later this season, Villanova tallied this season's world-leading time in the distance medley relay at the Dr. Sander/Columbia Challenge on Friday afternoon.  The lineup of sophomore Rachel McArthur (Bristow, Va.), junior Amari Onque-Shabazz (Plainfield, N.J.), junior McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) and senior Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.) set this season's current NCAA standard with a time of 10:59.98 on the New York Armory track. 
 
This is the seventh time in school history that the Wildcats have broken 11 minutes in the DMR during the indoor season.  Villanova came into the race already owning the season's fastest time after running 11:25.22 at Navy earlier this month, but Friday's race was evidence of the team being in top form with a performance that will almost surely stand up as an NCAA qualifying time later in the year.  The fastest 12 declared teams in the DMR will compete at the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Ala. in March, and the Wildcats have been All-Americans in the race on 13 previous occasions. 
 
Villanova flirted with the meet record of 10:56.40 which was set 10 years ago but nevertheless posted one of the top times on its own all-time performance list.  Friday's mark of 10:59.98 ranks seventh indoors in school history and is the fastest the Wildcats have run during the indoor season since the team registered a time of 10:59.74 during the 2014 campaign.  Four of the six times ahead of Friday's race on the Villanova performance list came at a BIG EAST, NCAA or last chance meet late in the season. 
 
After two pacers dropped out of the race with 400 meters to go on the opening 1200 meter leg, the Wildcats ran the race the hard way with plenty of space around them for the rest of the race.  Villanova crossed the finish line more than 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Monmouth and the rest of the eight-team field. 
 
McArthur opened up the race with a split of 3:25.76 on the first 1200 meters to establish the Wildcats position up front.  Onque-Shabazz followed and ran the 400 meter leg in 55.75, while Keegan recorded a split of 2:07.12 over 800 meters.  The clock was at 6:28.63 following the first three legs of the race, and Hutchinson took the baton needing to come in under 4:31 to break 11 minutes for the race. 
 
She did exactly that, posting a split of 4:31.35 on the 1600 meter anchor leg to secure Villanova's season-leading time.  This is the third time in her career that Hutchinson has anchored a DMR indoors and the split was easily a personal best.  She had previously anchored in 4:37 at the BIG EAST Championships two seasons ago, while her lifetime PR in the Mile is 4:36.16 and also came during the 2017 season. 
 
The distance medley relay was one of six events on the schedule for the Wildcats in Friday's action at the Dr. Sander/Columbia Challenge.  Earlier in the afternoon, sophomore sprinter Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica) made her season debut in the preliminary heats of the 60 meters and recorded a time of 7.56.  She came in third in her heat and placed ninth overall out of 39 competitors in the preliminaries, and missed qualifying for the final by a mere thousandth of a second.  A runner from Syracuse matched Williamson with a time of 7.56 in a later heat, and advanced to the final by a margin of 7.558-7.559.
 
Junior sprinter Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.) and sophomore Sarah Jones (Sewell, N.J.) each ran in the preliminary heats of the 60 meter hurdles.  Burns recorded a time of 8.66 and finished 13^th overall out of 32 entries, while Jones was ranked 20^th in the preliminary round with a time of 8.79. 
 
Villanova had four competitors in the pole vault later in the afternoon, with senior Adeline Scelzi (Glen Allen, Va.) and freshman Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) each clearing the bar at a height of 3.60 meters.  Sophomores Amanda McNelis (Commack, N.Y.) and Cala Lejman (Ambler, Pa.) each recorded a height of 3.45 meters. 
 
Senior Alex Patrick (Media, Pa.) led three athletes in the long jump with a distance of 5.33 meters.  She came in 12^th overall and was followed by freshman Trinity Hart (Scotch Plains, N.J.) with a mark of 5.20 meters and junior Gloria Donou (East Brunswick, N.J.) who measured a distance of 5.12 meters.
 
Also on Friday afternoon, freshman thrower Emily Galvin (Pitman, N.J.) recorded a mark of 9.66 meters in the shot put. 
 
The final day of action at the Dr. Sander/Columbia Challenge is on Saturday, beginning with the women's weight throw at 10 a.m.  The first race on the track for the Wildcats is the women's 800 meters which goes off at 10:48 a.m.