LEXINGTON, Ky.—Senior high jumper Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) earned a repeat trip to the national championships as Villanova closed out a great weekend of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary on Saturday night. Clayton is headed to the NCAA Championships for the third time in her career and will be one of six Wildcats competing at the national meet in Eugene, Ore. next month. Saturday was the final day of women's competition at the meet and it was a full day for Villanova, which showcased the depth of its roster with seven athletes in competition which included the high jump, discus, 800 meters and 5000 meters.
 
Clayton cleared the bar at a height of 1.84 meters on her second attempt to punch her ticket to Eugene. She had a breakthrough performance at the NCAA East meet last year when she parlayed a then-personal best mark of 1.82 meters into her first NCAA Championships berth. It has been an incredible calendar year for Clayton since then, as she came into this weekend a two-time All-American and the Wildcats school record holder with a height of 1.88 meters set indoors earlier this year. Clayton tied for 14^th place at outdoor nationals last season before moving up eight spots indoors earlier this year to tie for a sixth place finish and earn first team All-America honors.
 
It was all business for Clayton on Saturday, as she recorded successful jumps on three of her four attempts in the competition. She came in with the bar at a height of 1.76 meters and quickly made it over on her first try there as well as at 1.81 meters. There were only 13 athletes remaining when the bar was raised to 1.84 meters and Clayton was one of four competitors without a miss at that point. She went on to be one of only six athletes to record a successful jump at 1.84 meters.
 
Clayton and freshman teammate Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) each competed in the high jump, while fifth year collegian Adria Retter (Quakertown, Pa.) opened the day in the discus. Later in the evening the duo of sophomore Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) and fifth year Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) ran in the 800 meters, followed by juniors Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) and Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) in the national semifinal heats of the 5000 meters.
 
The high jump competition consisted of two simultaneous flights of 24 athletes. Clayton and Cunningham were jumping from the same pit with just a few athletes in between them, with the pair feeding off each other's momentum when they each cleared the bar at 1.76 meters. Cunningham came in at the opening height of 1.66 meters and went 3-for-4 to start the day, only missing on her first attempt at 1.71 meters. She eventually missed on her three tries at 1.81 which would have represented a four-centimeter personal best.
 
Discus
 
Retter was the first athlete from any school to compete on Saturday as she was first in the throwing order in the opening flight of the discus. Her best mark came on her first of three attempts when she measured a distance of 49.70 meters. She added a throw of 49.11 meters on her second attempt before fouling on the third. Each of 16 competitors in the three flights took three throws in the competition.
 
Saturday closed out a successful season for Retter, who was last year's Division III national champion in the discus competing at Swarthmore and carried that success into high-level Division I competition this year. She came in third in the championship section of the discus at the Penn Relays and won the BIG EAST title earlier this month before making her debut at the NCAA East meet.
 
800 Meters
 
Trusty and Martinez each qualified for the national quarterfinal round of the 800 meters after advancing from their first round heats on Thursday afternoon. In the first of three sections Saturday night, Trusty posted the second-fastest time of her career and the weekend. She crossed the finish line in 2:04.72 and ended up finishing 18^th overall in the quarterfinal round. She had been an on-time qualifier two days earlier when she registered a lifetime best of 2:04.65.
 
Martinez ran in the final heat on Saturday and initially posted a time of 2:04.63 before later being ruled to have stepped outside of her lane. She was competing at the NCAA East meet for the fourth straight season and made it to the quarterfinal round for the second consecutive year.
 
5000 Meters
 
Villanova closed out the night with McGill and Sigfstead running in the two semifinal heats of the 5000 meters. McGill was up first in the opening heat and made her career debut at the NCAA East meet. She recorded a time of 16:51.07 and came in 39^th overall in the semifinal round.
 
Sigfstead recorded a time of 16:03.15 and finished eighth in the second semifinal heat. She was just one place off the last qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships, but had already secured her ticket to Eugene in the 10000 meters late Thursday night. Running again less than 48 hours later, she stayed with the lead pack early in the race before the field began to string out after the first mile.
 
Up Next
 
Clayton and Sigfstead will compete at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. on June 6 and 8. The national championship race in the 10K is on Thursday, June 6 at 11:08 p.m. Eastern time (8:08 p.m. Pacific time) and the championship competition in the high jump is on Saturday, June 8 at 5 p.m. Eastern time (2 p.m. Pacific).
 
Villanova has four men's distance runners qualified for the NCAA Championships and they will be in action on Wednesday, June 5 and Friday, June 7.