STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.—Villanova high jumpers Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) and Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) starred in the season opener with terrific performances at the Penn 10-Team Select on Saturday night. Clayton tied the indoor school record with a height of 1.84 meters and Cunningham became the Wildcats fifth athlete ever to clear 1.76 meters or higher indoors in a sensational collegiate debut. Villanova had a group of seven women and two men competing at Ocean Breeze Track & Field Athletic Complex in the first competition of the new calendar year.
 
Clayton cleared the bar at 1.84 meters on her first try to match the standing indoor school record which was set by Sanaä Barmes at the NCAA Championships in 2019. The former teammates are two of just three athletes in program history to clear 1.80 meters or better during indoor competition. Clayton, who is coming off an All-American performance in the high jump during the 2023 outdoor campaign, ranks second in school history and is just three centimeters off the absolute school record (1.87) set by Barnes at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
 
It was midseason form in the first meet of the year for Clayton, who started her night with four consecutive successful jumps. She came into the competition when the bar was set at 1.71 meters and easily made it over on her first attempt of the day. Next up were clearances at 1.76 meters and 1.81 meters, which left her as the only athlete still competing when the bar moved up to 1.84 meters (6-0 ½). Clayton tied the school record on her first try at that height as well before eventually missing three jumps at 1.86 meters. She surpassed her previous lifetime best of 1.82 meters which she recorded at the NCAA East Preliminary last year to punch the ticket to her first career NCAA Championships appearance.
 
Cunningham soared into sixth place on Villanova's all-time performance list in the high jump in the first competition of her collegiate career. She tied her lifetime best mark of 1.76 meters which she had previously accomplished in April 2022 at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships in her native Jamaica. Cunningham is the Wildcats sixth athlete overall and the fifth indoors to clear 1.76 meters during competition.
 
The night started in a similar fashion for Cunningham as it did for Clayton as she was over the bar on each of her first three jumps. Cunningham entered the competition one installation earlier than her teammate and got started with a successful jump at 1.66 meters. The only athletes remaining out of 16 who started in the competition at that point were Cunningham and Sarah Lavery from Penn along with Clayton who was just preparing to take her first jump. Each member of the trio cleared 1.71 meters on their first try and Cunningham secured a second place finish by making it over on her first attempt at 1.76 meters.
 
Also of note on Saturday night was senior Caroline Carlson (Miami, Fla.) moving into ninth place in school history and sixth indoors with a mark of 5.62 meters in the long jump. She becomes the sixth Villanova athlete overall and only the second in the past 20 years to surpass 5.60 meters during indoor competition in the long jump.
 
Carlson improved on her previous lifetime best of 5.49 meters from the 2023 outdoor season and finished third out of 19 competitors in Saturday's meet. The mark of 5.62 meters came on her final try of the night and was the third time in her six attempts that she recorded a mark better than her previous personal best.
 
Click on the link at the top of this release for complete results from Saturday's meet.