VILLANOVA, Pa.—A trio of Villanova throwers made an impact on the Wildcats all-time performance lists in the discus and the hammer as the Wildcats opened the outdoor track & field season by hosting the Villanova Opener on Friday afternoon. Despite the cold and windy conditions, it was a great day for the Wildcats throwing group and several athletes who competed in the track events in the team's first outdoor non-BIG EAST Championships home meet in 15 years.
 
Junior thrower Emily Galvin (Pitman, N.J.) led the way with a huge performance in the hammer. She threw for 51.78 meters and recorded the seventh-longest throw in the Villanova record book. Galvin only competed in the javelin outdoors as a freshman two years ago and was throwing the hammer for the first time in a Wildcats uniform. She now trails only school record holder Melinda Boykin who holds the top six marks in school history in the hammer, including the record of 55.13 meters set during the 2001 season.
 
Galvin and graduate student Jul Thomson (Otterville, Ont.) each added themselves to the Villanova top-10 in the hammer. Thomson, a transfer from Dartmouth, threw for 44.96 meters and moved into fifth on the program's all-time performance list in her first Wildcats outdoor meet. Thomson also threw the discus for 43.82 meters and surged into sixth place in the Villanova record book in that event. Another graduate transfer, Grayce French (Ridgeland, S.C.), threw for 46.96 meters in the discus to move into fourth place on the Wildcats performance list.
 
Freshman thrower Teresa Rotolo (Warren, N.J.) made her collegiate debut with a first place finish in the javelin. She recorded a mark of 38.24 meters to lead six competitors in the event.
 
In field events on the track, junior Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) cleared the bar in the high jump at a height of 1.45 meters, while freshman Caroline Carlson (Miami, Fla.) had a successful attempt at 1.40 meters. Carlson also recorded a distance of 4.59 meters in the long jump.
 
Several of the Wildcats sprinters were in action on Friday afternoon, including three who competed in the 100 meters. Junior Trinity Hart (Scotch Plains, N.J.) won that event in 12.88, followed by redshirt freshman Faith Robinson (St. Louis Park, Minn.) in third place with a time of 13.10 and junior Jennifer Barbour (Middletown, Conn.) fourth in 13.16.
 
Fifth-year senior Amari Onque-Shabazz (Plainfield, N.J.), whose only remaining eligibility this year is outdoors, won both the 200 meters and the 400 meters with respective times of 25.79 and 56.27. Villanova accounted for the first five finishers in the 200 meters, with junior Jada Thomas (Kingston, Jamaica) coming in second (25.87), redshirt freshman Jane Livingston (Lancaster, Pa.) third (26.00), senior Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.) fourth (26.04) and redshirt freshman Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) fifth (26.78).
 
Senior Sarah Jones (Sewell, N.J.) also ran the 200 meters and posted a time of 27.17. Sophomore Brynne Sumner (Canton, Ga.) followed Onque-Shabazz in the 400 meters with a runner-up time of 57.18, while Martinez was third (58.47) and freshman Kate Flynn (Gray, Tenn.) posted a time of 1:09.10. Sumner later ran the 1500 meters and came in third with a time of 4:37.30.
 
Villanova was led in the 800 meters by sophomore Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) who finished with a winning time of 2:18.92. Helwigh was the runner-up in the 1500 meters in 4:37.09, while senior Kaleigh Hughes (Needham, Mass.) posted times of 2:26.94 in the 800 meters and 4:56.13 in the 1500 meters. Redshirt freshman Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.) finished third in the 3000 meters in 10:00.13 and freshman Elizabeth Vaughn (Dayton, Ohio) was fifth in 10:34.47.