RALEIGH, N.C.—In her first official competition in 671 days since the end of the 2019 outdoor collegiate season, senior thrower Taryn Ashby (Pittston, Pa.) broke her own school record in the javelin with a lifetime best mark of 48.98 meters at Paul H. Derr Track on Thursday afternoon. She was one of six Villanova athletes who competed during the first of three days of competition in the Raleigh Relays. Graduate student Grayce French (Ridgeland, S.C.) had a big performance in the shot put with the second-longest outdoor throw in school history.
 
Ashby originally broke the Wildcats record for the current javelin implement as a sophomore in 2019 when she threw for 48.03 meters at the Florida Relays. She qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary that year and competed at the regional meet on May 23, 2019; that competition had been her most recent as a result of the cancellation of the 2020 collegiate season.
 
The current javelin implement was introduced in 1999, but Thursday's new record mark of 48.98 meters would even have been the ninth-longest in the Villanova record book with the old implement which had a different center of gravity. Ashby was in strong form from the outset on Thursday, as her record throw came on her first attempt of the day. She wound up finishing third out of 18 total competitors and was one of just three who advanced to the final round of throws who measured six successful attempts on the day. Sophomore multi-event athlete Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) also competed in the javelin and threw for 37.32 meters.
 
French threw for a distance of 14.38 meters in the shot put to finish second in her section and just make the finals where she came in ninth overall. She is the Wildcats record holder in the shot put after an indoor mark of 14.85 meters in her Villanova debut earlier this year, but was competing in the event outdoors for the first time in a Wildcats uniform. Her throw of 14.38 meters ranks fifth overall in the Villanova record book and is second on the outdoor list behind only the outdoor school record of 14.1 meters set by Melinda Boykin on May 19, 2001 at the ECAC Championship. That mark had been the existing overall school record before French surpassed it indoors.
 
Junior Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) and senior Cala Lejman (Ambler, Pa.) competed in the pole vault on Thursday morning. Preston came in fourth in the seeded section with a clearance of 3.85 meters. She was one of four athletes out of 20 in the seeded and unseeded flights to make it over the bar at 3.85 meters, with only two of the four advancing in the competition with a successful attempt when the bar was raised to 4.00 meters. Lejman competed in the unseeded section and cleared a height of 3.60 meters. She was eliminated only when the bar was raised to 3.75 meters and missed on three attempts at a height which would have been a new personal best.
 
Morgan competed in the javelin and the preliminary heats of the 100 meter hurdles at nearly the same time. Her heat of the hurdles came up before her flight in the javelin and she posted a time of 15.26 to finish third in her heat. Senior sprinter Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica) was in action in the preliminaries of the 100 meters and was fifth in her heat with a time of 12.23. It was the first competition of the 2020-21 academic year for Williamson.
 
Three events are on Friday's schedule for the Wildcats, beginning with the discus at 10 a.m. followed by the 400 meters at 3:30 p.m. and several heats of the 1500 meters which begin at 5:45 p.m.