PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The depth of the Villanova women's track & field roster was on display Saturday afternoon as the Wildcats had three field athletes competing in the championship sections of their respective events as the 127^th Penn Relays concluded at Franklin Field. Fifth year athletes Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) and Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) were in action in the pole vault and the javelin, respectively, while junior Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) got the day started with the high jump.
 
While the Championship of America relays duly take center stage at the Penn Relays carnival each year, it is nonetheless noteworthy that this was the second straight year that Villanova had athletes qualify for the championship sections of these three field events. Clayton, Morgan and Preston competed during the middle of the day on Saturday when the spectacle of the Penn Relays was reaching its apex. There were seven individual events in all on the Wildcats schedule this weekend, including the heats of the championship 100 meter hurdles on Friday afternoon along with entries in the 3000 meter steeplechase, the 5000 meters and the 10000 meters on Thursday.
 
Preston continued her outstanding season in the pole vault even after the competition was moved indoors to the Hecht Tennis Center due to the wet conditions outside. She cleared the bar at a height of 4.03 meters and tied for a fifth place finish in her third straight impressive performance. Preston has made it over the bar at four meters or higher six times during her career, including four times outdoors and in each of her last two outings. She had a successful attempt at 4.00 meters at the Virginia Challenge last week before extending her season best with Saturday's result.
 
The height of 4.03 meters is the best mark for Preston since she recorded her lifetime PR of 4.06 meters at Franklin Field in the Quaker Invite on April 17, 2021. There are regional implications for Saturday's effort, as Preston improved her standing on the East Region descending order list which will be used to determine qualifiers for the NCAA East Preliminary meet next month.
 
Saturday's competition began with the bar at 3.73 meters and Preston was quickly over on her first attempt of the day to get off to a good start. She cleared 3.88 meters and 4.03 meters on her second try at each of those heights. Six athletes from an initial field of 14 competitors advanced when the bar was raised to 4.13 meters and five of the six were eliminated with three misses at that juncture.
 
First up earlier on Saturday afternoon was the championship competition in the high jump. Clayton finished in eighth place after a successful jump at 1.69 meters. The bar started at 1.64 meters and Clayton made it over on her second attempt. She then cleared 1.69 meters on her third and final try before the bar was raised to 1.74 meters. That would have represented a season best mark for Clayton, but only three of the 10 athletes in the section had a successful jump at that height.
 
Later in the afternoon Morgan tallied a ninth place finish in the javelin championship. She recorded a mark of 43.19 meters on her first throw of the day and was among the nine athletes who advanced from three initial attempts to take three more throws in the final round. Morgan had three other throws measured between 39 and 40 meters during the competition. The veteran Villanova performer owns a personal best in the javelin this season and is ranked 27^th in the East Region on the year after her mark of 47.09 meters at a meet in Miami earlier this month.