JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—The last of four straight days of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary this week will be an action-packed one for Villanova with women's discus, high jump and 5000 meters all on tap at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium. The first round flights of the field events take place in the afternoon while the final individual event of the weekend will be the semifinal heats of the 5000 meters at night. Live action on the track can be seen on ESPN+ and fans can access live results from Flash Results. Here is what to watch for in Saturday's events.
 
1:00 PM
 
Women's Discus
First Round
Adria Retter
Flight 2
 
This is the second straight year that Retter has qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary in her strongest throwing event. She is a former Division III national champion in the discus at Swarthmore who has competed for Villanova as a graduate student the past two years. Retter has a personal and season best mark of 52.31 meters in the discus which is just four centimeters off the school record. Her accolades for the Wildcats include being the 2024 BIG EAST champion in the discus and finishing third at this year's conference meet to earn her third career All-BIG EAST honor. She has surpassed 50 meters in the discus six times in her career and owns four of the 10 longest throws in Villanova history.
 
2:30 PM
 
Women's High Jump
First Round
Malaika Cunningham
Flight 1
 
Cunningham won her first career BIG EAST gold medal earlier this month when she jumped 1.75 meters at the conference championships. She becomes the Wildcats third champion in the event in recent seasons, following in the footsteps of Sanaä Barnes and Roschell Clayton who won a combined seven BIG EAST titles between 2019-25. Cunningham was the runner-up to Clayton at both the 2024 outdoor and 2025 indoor BIG EAST meets, but with Clayton having completed her collegiate eligibility earlier this year it was a natural ascension for Cunningham to take her turn as Villanova's latest high jump champion. She is making her second straight appearance at the NCAA East Preliminary this week and enters the meet with a lifetime best mark of 1.77 meters.
 
9:10 PM
 
Women's 5000 Meters
Semifinal
Sadie Sigfstead
Heat 2
 
After earning a return trip to the NCAA Championships in the 10000 meters two nights ago, Sigfstead will be back on the track Saturday night to compete in the semifinal heats of the 5000 meters. The 10K has been Sigfstead's strongest individual track event during her collegiate career, but she has enjoyed plenty of success in the 5K as well. Sigfstead ranks fourth overall in school history in the 5K with a personal best time of 15:44.11 set in February 2024 and she is also sixth on the Wildcats all-time outdoor list with a time of 15:55.0 set earlier this year at the Virginia Challenge. The latter mark is the eight-fastest outdoor time in the Villanova record book.