JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Senior middle distance runner Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) automatically qualified for the quarterfinal round of the 800 meters and freshman Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) advanced on time through the national first round heats in her debut at the NCAA East Preliminary which continued with the second day of competition at Hodges Stadium on Thursday. Villanova had six athletes competing in four events, including the national semifinal round of the 10,000 meters which wrapped up the night.
 
Three of the six Wildcats who competed on Thursday night are qualifiers for the NCAA East Preliminary for the first time in their careers, including Trusty along with the duo of fifth year distance runner Ariana Gardizy (Lansdale, Pa.) and sophomore Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.). The meet, along with its counterpart in the West, serves as the early rounds of the national championships and the nine Villanova women competing at the University of North Florida this week are the most of any BIG EAST program. A pair of fifth year Wildcats, pole vaulter Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) and javelin thrower Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.), are veterans of this meet and were in action earlier on Thursday.
 
The first round of the 800 meters featured six heats, with the top three finishers in each heat and the next six fastest times moving on to Saturday's quarterfinals. Trusty ran in the second heat and finished fourth in her race with a time of 2:06.18. She narrowly missed advancing automatically, but at that point in the competition she had the best mark of the on-time qualifiers. Trusty had to wait out the final four heats that came after hers. She never fell further than fourth out of the six on-time spots and will now get a chance to extend her first collegiate outdoor season. Trusty is one of just four freshmen who qualified for the 800 meters at the East Preliminary this week.
 
Martinez had a more direct route to the next round of the 800 meters after a second place finish in the fifth and penultimate heat of the opening round. She crossed the finish line in 2:06.53, part of a crowd which saw just a tenth of a second separate the top three runners at the line. Martinez closed strong over the final 50 meters to ensure her final position; she was a full half second ahead of the fourth place finisher who did not advance. The quarterfinals of the 800 meters are at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday evening.
 
Thursday night finished with Sigfstead and Gardizy running in the 10,000 meters. The pair rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in school history in the 10K and combined for a 1-2 finish in the event at the BIG EAST Championships last week. Sigfstead came in 24^th in Thursday night's race in 34:32.47, while Gardizy was 45^th overall with a time of 36:11.87. This is the fourth time in the last six seasons that the NCAA East Preliminary has been held that Villanova had at least one runner in the semifinal round of the 10,000 meters.
 
Earlier in the afternoon Morgan got the day started for the Wildcats in the second flight of the javelin. The athletes in that flight were throwing into a strong wind, but Morgan recorded her best throw of the day on her final attempt. She threw for 42.82 meters to finish 11^th in her flight and 36^th overall. It is the second straight year that Morgan qualified for the NCAA East meet and it put the finishing touches on a strong outdoor campaign. She threw for a career-best mark of 47.09 meters in the javelin earlier in the Spring, the seventh-longest throw in the Villanova record book and good enough to move Morgan up to second place on the program's all-time performance list in the javelin.
 
Preston is another of the top Wildcats in school history in her signature event. She cleared the bar in the pole vault at 3.82 meters on Thursday while making her third career appearance at the East Preliminary meet. Preston is tied for third in school history in the pole vault and is a four-time BIG EAST champion, winning her fourth career gold medal just last week. She made it over the bar at its opening height on her second try in Thursday's competition, then was eliminated on three missed attempts when the bar was raised to 3.97 meters.
 
The meet pivots back to men's competition on Friday evening before the Villanova women are in action again on Saturday. The event schedule on Saturday features high jump competition at 2:30 p.m., followed by the quarterfinal round of the 3000 meter steeplechase at 5:40 p.m. and the quarterfinals in the 800 meters at 7:05 p.m.