GENEVA, Ohio—Junior middle distance runner Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) broke the school record in the 3000 meter steeplechase for the third time in her career and won her first individual BIG EAST track title, senior thrower Taryn Ashby (Pittston, Pa.) became a three-time conference champion in the javelin and Villanova opened competition in the 2021 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships Presented by JEEP with a strong showing at the SPIRE Institute on Friday afternoon. The championship performances by Olivere and Ashby helped the Wildcats score 44 points on Friday to sit in second place going into the final day of competition at the conference meet.
 
Villanova scored points in the hammer, javelin, pole vault and long jump in the field events contested during Friday's action. There were three podium finishes for the Wildcats on the day, including the gold medals for Ashby and Olivere in addition to a runner-up finish in the pole vault by junior Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.). The bulk of competition on the first day of the conference championships is preliminary heats in the respective running events, and Villanova qualified 12 athletes for the final of their events on Saturday afternoon.
 
Olivere led wire-to-wire in a sensational performance in the steeplechase and broke 10 minutes for the first time with her winning mark of 9:57.34. The time is ranked 14^th in the nation and seventh in the East region this season as Olivere lowered her already strong time for the NCAA East Preliminary meet later this month. She is the Wildcats first steeplechase champion in 12 years since Sarah Morrison finished first with a then-school record time of 10:12.4 at the 2009 conference meet; ironically her record is the one Olivere broke at the Pan-American U20 Championships in Costa Rica in 2019 when she ran 10:12.16. Olivere then reclaimed the school record from teammate Anna Helwigh with a time of 10:03.89 earlier this season.
 
"Looking back to when I was looking at schools going into college, this is exactly the kind of program I wanted to go into," Olivere said. "My foremost thing that I wanted was a team that's going to push me, going to make me better. I want bodies to train with and that's exactly what I have, and I'm so grateful for it every day. I have great teammates and it pushes me to be stronger and a better competitor. This is something I tried freshman year [steeplechase, for the first time], so to be able to get a title in it is super exciting and gives me that much more confidence going into regionals."
 
There have been four Villanova throwers to win multiple BIG EAST titles in the javelin but Ashby is the first of the four to be a three-time champion. She won her latest gold medal with a throw of 49.89 meters on Friday to lead three Wildcats competitors in the event. Freshman Teresa Rotolo (Warren, N.J.) came in fifth with a mark of 38.06 meters in her BIG EAST debut and junior multi-event competitor Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) placed ninth (35.01 meters) in between events of the heptathlon.
 
Ashby's winning throw came on her third and final attempt of the day after she registered marks of 43.10 meters and 46.28 meters on her first two throws. She was already in the lead to stay after her first attempt and passed on the final three throws available to her with the championship in hand.
 
"It feels awesome, just the opportunities that we were able to have this season," Ashby said of her third straight BIG EAST title. "Being able to come out to Geneva, it's a beautiful day which is great, and just being able to finally compete at BIG EAST after two years is amazing."
 
Preston and senior Cala Lejman (Ambler, Pa.) finished in the top four in the pole vault, with Preston earning the silver medal with a second place finish. She cleared the bar at a height of 3.92 meters and Lejman came in fourth with a successful clearance at 3.57 meters. Preston is a four-time career medalist at the BIG EAST meet.
 
The other scorers for the Wildcats on Friday afternoon were junior thrower Emily Galvin (Pitman, N.J.) in the hammer and junior longer jumper Trinity Hart (Scotch Plains, N.J.). Galvin recorded a new personal best and finished fifth in the hammer with a mark of 52.21 meters. The distance represents the seventh-best throw in school history, dropping Galvin's previous PR from earlier this year of 51.78 meters down a spot to eighth. Hart came in sixth in the long jump with a mark of 5.57 meters.