PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Junior distance runner Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) broke the school record in the 3000 meter steeplechase for the second time in her career an Villanova ran two of the fastest relays in school history to highlight eight event victories during the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational at Franklin Field Presented by Toyota on Saturday afternoon. The local meet was held on what would have been the final day of the Penn Relays and took on some of the flavor of the iconic meet with several sponsored events along with the Penn Relays champions podium on the infield.
 
Olivere won the 3000 meter steeplechase with a personal best time of 10:03.89 to reclaim the school record from redshirt freshman teammate Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) who had broken Olivere's previous mark with a time of 10:05.86 at the Virginia Challenge just eight days earlier. Their respective races over the past two weeks are now the two fastest in school history as Olivere lowered her personal best time and surged to seventh place on this year's East Region qualifying list. She cut more than eight seconds off her previous PR and initial school record time of 10:12.16 which she had set in July 2019 in Costa Rica at the Pan American U20 Championships.
 
The other highlights on the track for the Wildcats on Saturday came in the 4x400 meter relay and the sprint medley relay. Senior sprinter McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) anchored each of those relays to a first place finish and was named the Female Track Athlete of the Meet for her performance. Each of the relays posted times that rank in the top 10 of the Villanova record book and Keegan recorded one of the fastest known relay splits in school history on the anchor leg of the 4x400 meter relay.
 
A lineup of fifth-year senior Amari Onque-Shabazz (Plainfield, N.J.), redshirt freshman Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio), redshirt freshman Brynne Sumner (Canton, Ga.) and Keegan won the 4x400 relay in 3:38.78. It is the seventh-fastest time in program history and the Wildcats fastest 4x400 time since May 14, 2011. Keegan anchored the race with a split of 52.67 which is the fastest known split that any Villanova runner has registered on a leg of the 4x400 relay. The only athlete in Wildcats history known to have had faster 400 meter relay splits is Michelle Bennett who had splits of 52.0, 52.1 and 52.3 on the 400 meter leg of distance medley relay races during her collegiate career. Splits from the program's two fastest races in the 4x400 meter relay which were run during the 1980's are not known, however.
 
Villanova was at it again in the sprint medley relay where it posted a winning time of 3:49.82 to notch the third-fastest time in school history in the relatively seldom-run event. Fifth-year seniors Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica) and Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.) led off the relay with the pair of 200 meter legs, while Onque-Shabazz ran the 400 meters ahead of Keegan who posted a split of 2:06.17 on the 800 meter anchor leg. The only faster sprint medley races in the Wildcats record book (3:45.45, 3:46.45) came during the 1994 season.
 
Junior sprinter Jada Thomas (Kingston, Jamaica) was the other Villanova winner on the track as she took first in the 100 meter hurdles in 13.91. Redshirt freshman Jane Livingston (Lancaster, Pa.) and senior Sarah Jones (Sewell, N.J.) each posted season-best times of 14.08 and 14.59, respectively. Burns had a terrific race in the 400 meter hurdles and was the runner-up with a time of 1:00.30. It is the second-fastest time of her career and the sixth time she has broken 61 seconds in her top individual event. Burns is ranked seventh in school history in the 400 meter hurdles.
 
Rounding out the track events, redshirt freshmen Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.) and Nikki Merrill (Portsmouth, R.I.) competed in the 1500 meters while freshman Elizabeth Vaughn (Dayton, Ohio) ran the 5000 meters. Smith recorded a season-best time of 4:27.10 in the 1500 meters and Merrill finished in 4:42.98, while Vaughn had a personal best time of 17:27.68 in her first collegiate 5K race.
 
Three of the Wildcats first place finishes at the meet came in the field events where the team continues to have strong performances on a week-to-week basis. Junior high jumper Sanaä Barnes (Keller, Texas) tied her own school record with a successful clearance over the bar at 1.82 meters to finish first out of a dozen competitors. She and freshman Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) formed a 1-2 punch as Clayton was the runner-up with a height of 1.79 meters.
 
Barnes holds the Villanova record in the high jump both indoors (1.84m) and outdoors (1.82m), while Clayton moved up to a tie for second place on the Wildcats all-time outdoor list with her effort on Saturday afternoon (she ranks third overall in school history with a PR of 1.80 meters set indoors). Junior pole vaulter Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) came in first in the pole vault with a successful attempt at 3.85 meters, while senior Cala Lejman (Ambler, Pa.) finished sixth with a mark of 3.45 meters.
 
Graduate student throwers Grayce French (Ridgeland, S.C.) and Jul Thomson (Otterville, Ont.) posted strong marks in both the shot put and the discus. French came in first in the shot put with a season-best throw of 14.72 meters and has now recorded six of the top eight shot put marks on the all-time Villanova list. That includes her school record of 14.85 meters set indoors and four marks which have come during the current outdoor season. French, who has broken the Wildcats record in the discus twice already this season, came in second in the event on Saturday with a throw of 49.47 meters. She accounts for each of the top four throws in school history in the discus.
 
Thomson came in fifth in the discus with a personal best mark of 46.23 meters and finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 13.02 meters. Her effort in the discus was eight centimeters further than her previous PR of 46.15 meters set during the Philadelphia Big 5 Meet at Franklin Field earlier this month. Thomson ranks sixth on the all-time Villanova performance lists in both the shot put and the discus.
 
Junior thrower Emily Galvin (Pitman, N.J.) came in fourth in the hammer with a mark of 49.48 meters and freshman Teresa Rotolo (Warren, N.J.) finished third in the javelin with a personal best throw of 38.63 meters. Junior multi-event athlete Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) recorded a distance of 36.70 meters in the javelin and also made it over the bar at 1.55 meters in the high jump.