CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Fifth year pole vaulter Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) soared over the bar at a height of four meters on her first attempt at the height in a terrific performance at the Virginia Challenge on Friday evening. Villanova had one track event and three field events on its schedule Friday as it opened two days of competition at Lannigan Field.
 
Preston was in action in the invitational section of the pole vault and turned in her best performance of the season. The bar was at exactly 4.00 meters and she extended her top mark of the year by five centimeters. Her effort also nudged her up a few spots into a tie for 42^nd place on this year's East Region descending order list which is used to determine qualifiers for the NCAA East Preliminary meet next month. Preston has competed at that meet twice before during her career.
 
Friday's competition began with the bar at 3.70 meters and from there it was raised to 3.85 meters. Preston used all three of her attempts at those heights before making it over on her final try each time. She was one of the last athletes to clear the bar at 3.85 meters and one of the first to make an attempt at 4.00 meters. The quick turnaround allowed Preston to carry her momentum into her seventh approach of the day and clear four meters on her first try.
 
This is the fifth time in her career and the third time outdoors that Preston has recorded a successful attempt at a height of four meters or higher. Her lifetime best performance was a height of 4.06 meters outdoors at the Quaker Invite on April 17, 2021; Friday was the first time since that outing two years ago that Preston reached four meters or higher. She is tied for third in school history in the pole vault and Friday's performance was the 11^th time that any Villanova athlete has cleared four meters during the collegiate outdoor season.
 
Sophomore thrower Faith Haught (Payson, Ariz.) and fifth year athlete Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) were also in action on Friday evening. Haught threw for a distance of 37.09 meters in the discus and Morgan registered a mark of 39.58 meters in the javelin. Earlier in the day the duo of freshman Myonica Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill.) and senior Alexis Martin (Gaithersburg, Md.) ran the 400 meters and posted times of 57.65 and 59.87, respectively.
 
Saturday's event schedule in Virginia features the 100 meter hurdles, the 200 meters, the high jump and the long jump.