VILLANOVA, Pa.—Sophomore distance runner
Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) and fifth year
Ariana Gardizy (Lansdale, Pa.) became the first pair of Villanova teammates in 32 years to go 1-2 in the 10,000 meters as three days of competition kicked off Thursday in the 2023 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships presented by JEEP. In the only track final of the night and running on their home track, Sigfstead and Gardizy crossed the finish line in the 10K less than four seconds apart. This is the eighth time that a Wildcats runner has won the BIG EAST title in the 10,000 meters. Sigfstead and Gardizy are the third pair of VU teammates to tally a 1-2 finish in the event.
Two scored events were included in Thursday's meet program, beginning with the hammer throw on Pike Field during the afternoon followed by the 10K races inside Villanova Stadium later in the night. Sigfstead posted a winning time of 34:42.83 and Gardizy came in second in 34:46.44. Sophomore thrower
Faith Haught (Payson, Ariz.) got the day off to a strong start for Villanova with a personal best mark of 38.95 meters in the hammer.
Friday's event schedule gets started with multi-event competition at 9:30 a.m. Field events begin at 11 a.m. and the first race on the track is scheduled for 2 p.m.
By the middle of the 10,000 meter race a lead pack of four runners had emerged from the field of 11 athletes who started the race. Sigfstead and Gardizy were in the leading group of four along with Laure Bertrand from Butler and last year's third place finisher, Orla O'Connor of Providence. With a mile to go in the race the trio of Sigfstead, Gardizy and Bertrand had started to create some separation in the ranks, and with two laps remaining Sigfstead and Gardizy clearly established themselves as the two front runners with a four-second gap between them and the rest of the field.
Sigfstead made her collegiate 10K debut earlier this season at the Raleigh Relays when she ran a BIG EAST-leading time of 33:53.16. Gardizy also had a 10K race under her belt this year after recording a personal best time of 34:25.62 at the Penn Relays just two weeks ago. The pair are currently ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in school history in the 10,000 meters. Sigfstead is the Wildcats second champion in the 10K in the last four seasons that the meet has been held, joining
Caroline Alcorta (2019) as recent winners. The last Villanova teammates to tally a 1-2 finish in the event were
Carole Zajac and
Carol Haux in 1991.
Competition started for the Wildcats with Haught throwing for 38.95 meters in the hammer, beating the mark she had established at the Big 5 Invitational earlier this season. It was the first of two events this weekend for Haught, who is also entered in the discus on Saturday morning.
Thursday also featured the first day of competition in both the heptathlon and the decathlon, which will continue on Friday morning. With two events scored through the end of the night, defending champion Connecticut has 21 points followed by Villanova with 18 points. The rest of the team scoring included DePaul (12), St. John's (11), Butler (10), Providence (5) and Marquette (1).
