VILLANOVA, Pa.—The qualifiers for the NCAA East Preliminary meet were announced Thursday afternoon and Villanova will send seven of its women's track & field student-athletes to Lexington, Ky. to compete in the early rounds of the national championships next week. Competition takes place on Thursday, May 23 and Saturday, May 25 (men's competition on May 22 and 24) at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track and Field Facility. Live coverage of the meet will stream on ESPN+.
 
Fifth year middle distance runner Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) and senior high jumper Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) will each be competing at the NCAA East Preliminary for the fourth consecutive season. Clayton advanced from the meet to qualify for the NCAA Championships last season and is a two-time All-American in the high jump who is coming off winning her second straight outdoor BIG EAST title a week ago.
 
Martinez has qualified for the NCAA East meet in the 800 meters every season of her career and reached the national quarterfinal round last year. She is coming off a sensational race last weekend on her home track when she went from fourth to first in the final straightaway of the 800 meters to win her first individual outdoor BIG EAST title with a championship record time of 2:04.18. That mark was an outdoor personal best for Martinez, while her lifetime best is 2:03.68 recorded indoors in February 2023.
 
Villanova has two athletes competing in the 800 meters next week as sophomore Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) qualified for the NCAA East meet for the second straight season. Trusty placed 15^th in the national first round heats a year ago and was 20^th in the quarterfinal round in her first collegiate season. She is a three-time individual BIG EAST medalist and anchored the Wildcats to a thrilling finish for a conference title in the 4x400 meter relay last weekend. Trusty's lifetime PR in the 800 meters is 2:04.90 and was set earlier this outdoor season at a meet in Miami.
 
Junior distance runner Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) is the fourth Villanova athlete who is a repeat qualifier for the NCAA East Preliminary. She is slated to run in the national semifinal heats of both the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters next week. Sigfstead competed in the 10K last year and finished in the top half of the field in the semifinal round. She has taken a big step forward this season and registered the second-fastest time in Villanova history when she ran 32:45.56 at the Raleigh Relays on March 29. The only faster time in the Wildcats record book is Carole Zajac's school-record time of 32:22.96 which has stood for more than 32 years.
 
Sigfstead will also run the 5,000 meters next week after she recorded a time of 15:59.02 at Wake Forest last month. She has broken 16 minutes in the 5K three times – all this year – and has a lifetime best mark of 15:44.11 which was set indoors in February.
 
The trio of junior distance runner Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.), fifth year thrower Adria Retter (Quakertown, Pa.) and first year collegian Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) heads to the NCAA East Preliminary for the first time in their careers. McGill has had a terrific outdoor season to date which includes personal best marks in both the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters. She could have qualified for the NCAA East meet in either event and is entered in the semifinal round of the 5K after posting a time of 16:14.15 at the Raleigh Relays in her season debut.
 
Retter is a former Division III national champion in the discus at Swarthmore who has excelled for Villanova in her first year of Division I competition this season. She will compete in the discus in Kentucky after winning the BIG EAST title in the event last weekend. Retter's winning throw at the conference championships was 49.73 meters, while her lifetime best of 51.46 meters won her last year's Division III national title. She has broken onto the all-time Villanova top-10 lists this year in the shot put, the weight throw, the discus and the hammer, and is ranked second in school history in the discus entering next week's competition.
 
Cunningham will join Clayton in competing in the high jump at the NCAA East meet. The pair combined for a 1-2 finish at the BIG EAST Championships and Cunningham has jumped as high as 1.77 meters earlier this year at an indoor meet in Boston.
 
The NCAA East Preliminary meet – as well as its counterpart in the West – consists of the top 48 declared athletes in individual events and the top 24 declared teams in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays. At each regional meet the top athletes and relay teams will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. which take place on June 6 and 8 (men's competition on June 5 and 7).