VILLANOVA, Pa.—The accepted entries for the NCAA East Preliminary meet were announced on Thursday afternoon and the Villanova women's track & field team will have 11 athletes and one relay team headed to Jacksonville, Fla. next week for the early rounds of the NCAA Championships. Competition at the East Preliminary takes place from May 26-29 at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus. The women's competition will be held on the second and fourth days of the meet in an adjusted format for the 2021 season.
 
The contingent of Wildcats accepted into the meet include six runners and five field athletes in addition to the 4x400 meter relay. It is an impressive group of selections for the team and one of the most diverse in terms of the number of disciplines represented. Villanova has entries in the 800 meters, the 400 meter hurdles and the 3000 meter steeplechase on the track. The field events include the high jump, the pole vault, the discus and the javelin.
 
Fifth-year senior McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) headlines three Wildcats who will run in the national first round heats of the 800 meters on Thursday, May 27. Keegan is having the best season of her career in 2021 and posted a lifetime best mark of 2:03.56 at the Raleigh Relays in March. Sophomores Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) and Brynne Sumner (Canton, Ga.) have also tallied personal bests in the 800 meters this season. Martinez most recently had a time of 2:05.72 at the Penn Twilight on May 1, while Sumner recorded her PR of 2:06.86 at the Virginia Challenge last month. Keegan leads the trio and is ranked 10^th among the 48 qualifiers in the 800 meters for the NCAA East Preliminary.
 
One of the best stories on the Villanova roster in 2021 has been the return of senior sprinter Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.), who competed at the East preliminary meet in the 400 meter hurdles in 2019 and is now a two-time qualifier for the meet. Burns recorded a time of 1:00.30 at the "Philly Mets" on April 24 and is coming off her first career BIG EAST title in the event with a winning time of 1:00.73 at the conference championships last week. Burns won the final at the BIG EAST meet in exciting fashion as she raced out to a big early lead and then took the lead back to win the title as she leaned across the finish line.
 
Junior Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) and sophomore Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) will each compete in the national quarterfinal round of the 3000 meter steeplechase in Jacksonville. Both have held the school record in the event at times this season, with Helwigh breaking Olivere's mark at the Virginia Challenge in April and Olivere taking back ownership of the record a week later at the "Philly Mets." Olivere lowered the current Wildcats standard again at the BIG EAST Championships and currently has a lifetime best time of 9:57.34 which is ranked 10^th among the 48 declared athletes for the preliminary meet. She previously competed at the meet as a freshman in 2019.
 
Helwigh recorded a time of 10:05.86 in the steeplechase at the Virginia Challenge and is also ranked among the top half of the field at the NCAA East Preliminary. That was the only steeplechase race this season for Helwigh, but she and Olivere each had a chance to declare for the preliminary meet in the 1500 meters as well. Helwigh won the BIG EAST title in the 1500 meters last week and posted a personal best time of 4:19.59 in the event during the season.
 
The group of five field athletes heading to Jacksonville include three school record holders. They are senior thrower Taryn Ashby (Pittston, Pa.) in the javelin, graduate student Grayce French (Ridgeland, S.C.) in the discus and junior Sanaä Barnes (Keller, Texas) in the high jump. Junior pole vaulter Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) and freshman high jumper Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) are the other field athletes who qualified for the preliminary meet.
 
Ashby will be a three-time competitor at the East Preliminary and won the third straight BIG EAST title of her career last week. She has increased her own school record in the javelin three times this season, most recently at the UNF Invite on April 30 when she threw 50.69 meters. That performance came at Hodges Stadium where next week's meet will take place and the latest school record for Ashby has her ranked 18^th among the 48 qualifiers in the javelin.
 
French has set school records in the shot put and the discus this season after coming to the Wildcats as a graduate transfer from Clemson. She has broken the record in the discus three times in her seven outings during the outdoor season, including in her most recent event when she threw 52.35 meters to win the BIG EAST title and become the first Villanova discus champion in 36 years. French has surpassed 50 meters on four occasions and will be competing at the NCAA East Preliminary for the first time in her career.
 
Barnes is a three-time All-American in the high jump, including being a two-time first team All-America performer indoors and outdoors during her freshman season in 2019. She holds the school record with a height of 1.84 meters and owns a lifetime best mark of 1.85 meters. Barnes has cleared 1.82 meters during the current outdoor campaign and is one of only eight athletes among the 48 qualifiers to have a successful attempt at that height or higher. Clayton is the latest member of the Wildcats high jump group and has jumped 1.79 meters during the outdoor season in addition to recording a personal best of 1.80 meters indoors. Both athletes were All-BIG EAST performers in the high jump last week, with Barnes coming in second and Clayton tying for third at the conference championships.
 
Preston is returning to the NCAA East Preliminary for the second time in her career as a competitor in the pole vault. She recorded the best performance of her career this season when she cleared the bar at 4.06 meters at the Quaker Invite last month. Preston has cleared four meters or higher in competition four times during her career, including twice each indoors and outdoors. She is tied for third on the all-time Villanova performance list in the pole vault.
 
The top performers from the NCAA East Preliminary will advance to the NCAA Championships which will be held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 9-12.