VILLANOVA, Pa.—As the 2023-24 indoor track & field season kicks into high gear, the Wildcats will host their annual home meet when teams converge on Ocean Breeze Track & Field Athletic Complex in Staten Island for the Villanova Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The meet gets underway at 4 p.m. and Villanova is expected to have more than 20 members each from its men's and women's teams in action in the first full team meet of the year. This is the ninth straight season in which the Wildcats have hosted at least one meet at the Ocean Breeze facility.
 
So far in the indoor campaign the Wildcats have had two smaller meets on the schedule and they each produced school record performances. Men's senior distance runner Liam Murphy (Allentown, N.J.) shattered the Villanova indoor record in the 5000 meters back in December when he had a time of 13:21.20 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston. Murphy beat the previous mark by more than 16 seconds and was within six-tenths of a second of bettering the absolute school record which has stood for nearly 45 years.
 
Last week in the Penn 10-Team Select at Ocean Breeze, women's senior high jumper Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) tied the Wildcats indoor record in the high jump when she cleared the bar at 1.84 meters. Clayton was competing for the first time since last year's outdoor NCAA Championships and she started her indoor season with four straight successful jumps culminating with a new personal best and record-tying effort on her first attempt at 1.84 meters (6-0 ½). Clayton was named the BIG EAST Women's Field Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career after last week's performance.
 
Next up for the Wildcats after their home meet will be competition at the Penn State National Open on January 26-27 at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track in University Park, Pa.