GENEVA, Ohio—In a year filled with uncertainty and never-before-seen challenges in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, a familiar sight had never been a brighter beacon than it was on Saturday afternoon when the seniors on the Villanova women's track & field team stepped forward to lift the championship trophy at SPIRE Institute on Saturday afternoon. It is the third straight outdoor track & field title for the Wildcats, the fifth outdoor conference championship in the last seven seasons and the 13^th title overall for Villanova. No championship run is quite the same as any other, and the Wildcats latest BIG EAST trophy has extra special meaning this time around.
 
The months of planning and implementation of protocols that allowed for the return of collegiate athletics this spring could not have predicted what the level of performance would be when teams finally got back to the arenas of athletic competition. That question has now been answered as Villanova stormed back from an unprecedented layoff with school records on the track and in the field, personal best marks from nearly every student-athlete on the roster and finally the thrill of another BIG EAST victory.
 
Head coach Gina Procaccio and her staff were named the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year and nine seniors accepted the championship trophy during the awards ceremony. The group of seniors included Tarn Ashby (Pittston, Pa.); Jennifer Barbour (Middletown, Conn.); Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.); Sarah Jones (Sewell, N.J.); McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.); Cala Lejman (Ambler, Pa.); Amanda McNelis (Commack, N.Y.); Amari Onque-Shabazz (Plainfield, N.J.); and Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica).
 
Graduate student Grayce French (Ridgeland, S.C.) broke two of her own school records in competition on Saturday and became the Wildcats second-ever BIG EAST champion in the discus. She was one of four individual winners in Saturday's action. Burns won a gutsy race in the final of the 400 meter hurdles for her first career individual BIG EAST title, Keegan cruised to a championship in the 800 meters and sophomore Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) won the 1500 meters. Villanova had a total of 14 podium finishes for the day.
 
French recorded a winning throw of 52.35 meters in the discus to become the Wildcats first champion in the event since Connie Sweet in 1985. She has now broken the school record in the discus three times this season, with Saturday's winning mark eclipsing the record of 50.90 meters she had set during the Philadelphia Big 5 meet last month. Graduate student Jul Thomson (Otterville, Ont.) came in third in the discus with a throw of 46.67 meters to earn All-BIG EAST honors with a bronze medal.
 
French threw for a record distance of 14.95 meters in the shot put and was the runner-up in that event. She had set the previous Villanova standard in the shot put with a throw of 14.85 meters indoors, while the program's previous outdoor record of 14.81 meters had stood since Melinda Boykin set it at the 2001 BIG EAST Championships. Two other all-conference performances in the field events came from junior Sanaä Barnes (Keller, Texas) and freshman Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) in the high jump. Barnes was the silver medalist with a height of 1.80 meters and Clayton tied for third after a successful jump at 1.75 meters. Junior multi-event specialist Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) finished second in the heptathlon with 5,149 points.
 
The 400 meter hurdles had one of the best finishes of the day after Burns raced out to a big early lead. She was caught by Juru Okwaramoi in the final straightaway, only to dig deep and lean back in front of Okwaramoi at the finish line to win by a margin of less than four-tenths of a second. Burns captured the title with a time of 1:00.73. Later in the day Burns led off the 4x400 meter relay as she, sophomore Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio), Onque-Shabazz and Keegan won the relay in 3:38.86.
 
Keegan and Martinez each made the awards podium in the 800 meters. Keegan sped away from the field in the 800 meters and won by a margin of nearly two seconds. Her time was 2:05.86, while the runner-up from Georgetown posted a time of 2:07.74. Martinez finished third in 2:08.69 to earn the bronze medal. Junior distance runner Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) won her second championship of the weekend with a first place finish and a winning time of 16:10.37 in the 5000 meters. Olivere had set a school record – like French breaking her own mark – in winning the 3000 meter steeplechase on Friday afternoon.
 
Villanova made the awards podium in all three relays contested on Saturday. In addition to the title in the 4x400 meter relay, the Wildcats came in second in the 4x800 relay and third in the 4x100 meter relay. Sophomore Nikki Merrill (Portsmouth, R.I.), Helwigh, redshirt freshman Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.) and sophomore Brynne Sumner (Canton, Ga.) posted a time of 8:51.76 in the 4x800 relay. Junior Jada Thomas (Kingston, Jamaica), Williamson, Burns and junior Trinity Hart (Scotch Plains, N.J.) came in third in the 4x100 relay with a time of 46.15.