HAVERFORD, Pa.—Competing unattached in her second race of the 2024 season, Villanova graduate student Lizzie Martell (Essex Junction, Vt.) won the women's 5,000 meter race at the Haverford Invitational on Friday afternoon. She paced a field of 63 runners which included four Wildcats that competed in the team lineup.
 
Martell finished first on the Alumni Course at Haverford with a winning time of 17:48.4 to hold off the runner-up from Penn by just over four seconds. First year collegian Bella Walsh (Middletown, Del.) led the rest of the Villanova contingent with a third place finish and a time of 18:00.5. The time is 24 seconds faster than what Walsh ran in her collegiate debut on the same course just over a month ago at the Main Line Invitational.
 
Three consecutive Wildcats crossed the finish line in third through fifth places. Walsh was followed by junior Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.) and senior Alex Stasichin (Massapequa, N.Y.), with Pogue posting a time of 18:19.3 and Stasichin finishing in 18:29.4 in her first race of the season. Sophomore Caelen O'Leary (Taunton, Mass.) came in 17^th overall and recorded a time of 19:21.9.
 
Villanova is preparing for the BIG EAST Championships in Leesburg, Va. on Friday, November 1 at 10 a.m.