UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.—Graduate thrower
Alex Payne (Silverdale, Wash.) recorded the fifth-longest mark in school history in the weight throw while the duo of fifth year athletes
Adria Retter (Quakertown, Pa.) and
Jordan Williams (Fresno, Calif.) each moved up on the program's top-10 performance list in the event at the Penn State National Open on Friday evening. Their performances, along with strong races and personal best times from several of the team's distance runners, highlighted the first of two days of competition at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.
Junior distance runner
Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) led a trio of Wildcats who recorded personal bests in the mile, while fifth year sprinter
Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) and sophomore
Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) ran well in the invitational section of the 800 meters. The notable performances of the night for Villanova also included first year athlete
Ajanae Thompson (Rahway, N.J.) advancing through the first round and semifinal heats of the 60 meter hurdles.
Payne competed against strong competition in the top section of the weight throw late on Friday night and tallied a throw of 16.95 meters. It is the second straight week she has notched the fifth-best distance in school history; her effort of 16.85 meters in her Wildcats debut last week now moves down a spot to sixth. Payne is second overall on the Villanova performance list in the weight throw behind school record holder
Sade Meeks who owns each of the four top marks in the program record book. Payne's best throw on Friday came on her fifth attempt of the night.
In an earlier section of the weight throw Retter used a mark of 16.33 meters on her third throw of the day to surge seven spots in the standings and qualify for the final in her section. She improved by more than a meter from where she opened the season last week and is now ranked seventh in school history in the event. Williams had a similar progression as her fellow graduate transfer to the Wildcats and threw for 15.64 meters on her second attempt Friday night. Williams made her Villanova debut last week and moved into the program's all-time top-10 in ninth place with Friday's result. The quartet of Payne, Retter, Williams and junior
Faith Haught (Payson, Ariz.) are all current roster members who rank among the Wildcats top-10 athletes ever in the weight throw.
McGill posted a personal best time of 4:40.32 to finish eighth in the fastest section of the mile. She was making her season debut in the race and beat her previous PR set at last year's Villanova Invitational by six-hundredths of a second. Her time currently stands as the third-best in the BIG EAST this season. Junior
Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) cut more than three seconds off her top time in the mile and ran 4:47.16 in the second heat on Friday night. Sophomore
Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.) recorded her second PR in the mile in the past three weeks.
Later in the evening Trusty and Martinez each ran their first 800 meter races of the season in the fastest heat of the invitational section. They had nearly identical times at the finish line, with Trusty finishing in 2:06.23 and Martinez crossing in 2:06.25. Those times rank second and third on this year's BIG EAST performance list and are the fastest times in the conference so far this weekend with a number of high-level meets opening up on Friday.
The first athlete on the track for the Wildcats on Friday afternoon was Thompson in the first round of the 60 meter hurdles. She came in second in her heat in 8.64 to grab an automatic qualifying spot for the semifinal round later in the day. Thompson wound up with the sixth-fastest time out of 29 competitors in the first round of the hurdles. She lowered her time to 8.60 in the semifinal heats and was an on-time qualifier for the final, but did not start in what would have been her third race of the day.
Competition continues for Villanova at 10:20 on Saturday morning with the 40 meters. The final event of the meet is the 4x400 meter relay at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
