LEXINGTON, Ky.—It was a moment worth waiting for as junior distance runner Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) braved pouring rain and hours of delays to punch a ticket to the NCAA Championships in the 10000 meters. Sigfstead advanced from her semifinal race at the NCAA East Preliminary late Thursday night and will head to the national championships on the track for the first time in her career. Earlier in the day, the duo of sophomore Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) and fifth year Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) moved on to the quarterfinal round of the 800 meters at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track and Field Complex.
 
10000 Meters
 
Sigfstead qualified for the NCAA Championships with the fifth-fastest time in school history. She crossed the finish line in 33:05.99 for the second-fastest mark of her career and the current season to place ninth in a race where the top 12 finishers (out of 45 competitors) punched their ticket to Eugene, Ore. in two weeks. Sigfstead has twice competed at the NCAA Championships in cross country but will be doing so for the first time in a track event.
 
It was less than 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of the 10K at 6:10 p.m. when race officials announced that severe weather was expected to impact the area. Impending storms forced a delay until at least 9 p.m. right off the bat, with two more delays to come before an announcement at 9:30 that the race was on and would go off at 10:45 p.m. Although the severe threat had passed along with the worst of the rain before the race began, the field of runners still warmed up and ran the entirety of the race in a steady downpour.
 
Sigfstead ran a smart and steady race in the difficult conditions. She hugged the rail from the starting gun and held her spot just off the front of a tight pack until well past the midpoint of the race. That was despite a fair amount of jostling for position all around her in a race that was physical at times early on until the field started to string out. It was only in the last mile that a leading group emerged and clearly defined itself in front of the rest of the field.
 
Thursday night's race was the second career appearance for Sigfstead at the NCAA East Preliminary. Last year she came in 24^th in the 10K semifinal race with a time of 34:32.47. She has stepped up in a big way this season and recorded the second-fastest time in school history in her 2024 outdoor debut. That came at the Raleigh Relays on March 29 when her mark of 32:45.56 was the closest anyone has come to threatening Carole Zajac's long-standing school record (32:22.96 set at the 1992 Penn Relays).
 
Sigfstead's ledger for the season also includes a time of 15:59.02 in the 5000 meters at the Wake Forest Invitational last month. She is slated to race in the national semifinal round of the 5K on Saturday night in the Wildcats final race of the weekend.
 
800 Meters
 
All seven Villanova athletes who qualified for this week's NCAA East Preliminary will be in action on Saturday during the final day of competition. That is a result of Trusty and Martinez each advancing from their first round heats of the 800 meters earlier on Thursday afternoon. Trusty was the second-fastest on-time qualifier coming out of the first round, while Martinez ran in the final heat and secured the last automatic qualifying spot in the next round.
 
It took a lifetime best mark for Trusty to reach the national quarterfinal round for the second straight year. The top three finishers in each first round heat and the next six fastest times advanced. Trusty ran a solid opening lap and established a position along the rail midway through the race, with official splits showing her in second place with a lap to go. She wound up fourth at the finish line in 2:04.65 but was the fastest on-time qualifier after that race and never dropped more than one spot as the remaining four heats unfolded.
 
Trusty previously ran 2:04.90 in the 800 meters at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Miami on April 6. She most recently competed at the BIG EAST Championships on the Wildcats home track two weeks ago, where she was fifth in the final of the 800 meters before anchoring Villanova to a thrilling come-from-behind gold medal performance in the 4x400 meter relay. She split 53.10 on the last lap of the relay. As a collegiate rookie last year, Trusty came in 15^th overall in the first round and 20^th in the quarterfinal round of the 800 meters at the NCAA East Preliminary in Jacksonville, Fla.
 
In the final heat on Thursday, Martinez made her fourth consecutive appearance at this meet. Her experience showed and she used a strong kick over the final 150 meters to finish third in 2:05.37 and assure herself of a spot in Saturday night's quarterfinal round. Martinez was near the back of the pack after the first lap of Thursday's race, but in a position where she could make a kick coming into the home stretch. She started to make her move with just under 150 meters to go and powered down the last straightaway with a top-three finish in sight.
 
Only a few strides before the finish line, Martinez just stepped towards the outside in line two to pass a runner ahead of her and move into third place. That move was the difference in making it to the next round, as she wound up just under a quarter of a second (.22) in front of Gabriella Grissom from Miami (Fla.) in fourth place. None of the on-time qualifiers for the next round wound up coming out of Martinez' heat. She ran a similarly tactical race to the final at the BIG EAST Championships when she went from fourth to first in the final 75 meters to win a gold medal with a championship record time of 2:04.18.
 
Up Next
 
The pendulum swings back to men's competition on Friday when the Wildcats will have athletes competing in the 1500 meters (5:15 p.m.), the 800 meters (7:05 p.m.) and the 5000 meters (8:10 p.m.). The final day of women's competition is on Saturday and Villanova's docket will be a full one featuring the discus, high jump, 800 meters and 5000 meters.