PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—On her final attempt in the collegiate women's discus championship, fifth year collegian Adria Retter (Quakertown, Pa.) unleashed the second-longest throw of her career and leaped five spots in the standings into a third place finish at the Penn Relays on Saturday morning. It was an impressive result for Retter in her best individual event and one which has implications for the rest of this season beyond Penn Relays weekend.
 
Retter's final throw was 51.43 meters, just three centimeters off her lifetime best mark which won her a Division III national championship while competing at Swarthmore last season. It is the third-longest throw in Villanova history and elevates Retter into second place on the Wildcats all-time performance list. She had already been third on that list with a previous season best of 49.44 meters set in the season opener at UCF last month.
 
There were a dozen athletes vying for the title in the championship section of the discus at the Irving "Moon" Mondschein Throwing Complex in Saturday's first field event. The top nine in the field advanced from three initial throws into the final round for three more attempts. Retter recorded a throw of 47.59 meters on her second attempt of the day and was in eighth place after the first round. She remained in that position after fouling on her fourth and fifth throws in the final.
 
By the time Retter arrived at Villanova last Fall, she was already a two-time collegiate All-American who had been a seven-time conference champion in the throws at Swarthmore. She has continued that success with the Wildcats, earning All-BIG EAST honors in the shot put indoors and ranking no lower than seventh in Villanova history in the shot put, weight throw, discus and hammer.
 
Retter took over this season's BIG EAST lead in the discus with Saturday's performance. Of even more import is the significance of her 51.43 meter throw in the NCAA East region descending order list. The two athletes who finished ahead of her on Saturday had entered the competition ranked sixth and 21^st on that performance list, while Retter was 52^nd. She can move up as many as 18 spots on the list pending the outcome of other meets around the country this weekend. The top 48 declared athletes in each individual outdoor event qualify for the NCAA East Preliminary next month. The meet serves as the early rounds of competition for the NCAA Championships.
 
It was a successful weekend for Retter, who was also entered in the college section of the shot put on Friday afternoon at the Penn Relays. She recorded a throw of 13.49 meters and placed 14^th in her section.