JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Sophomore high jumper Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) and sixth year thrower Adria Retter (Quakertown, Pa.) wrapped up their strong outdoor season with competition at the NCAA East Preliminary on Saturday afternoon. It was the second straight appearance at the meet, which serves as the early rounds of the NCAA Championships, for both Villanova athletes. Cunningham tallied a top 20 finish in the high jump and improved by six spots from last season.
 
A strong start to the day enabled Cunningham to place as highly as she did. The bar started at a height of 1.69 meters and Cunningham easily made it over on her first attempt at that height as well as at the first bar-raise to 1.74 meters. Those first two installments in the competition only claimed 11 of the 48 athletes in the field, with 37 making it over at 1.74 meters. About half of those 37 athletes – Cunningham included – did not have miss on their first two jumps.
 
The next height was 1.79 meters, at which only 16 of the 37 remaining athletes made it over. Cunningham was close on her first two attempts but did not make it over on any of her three tries. The height would have represented a two centimeter PR, as Cunningham previously cleared 1.77 meters both indoors and outdoors during her 2024 collegiate rookie season. She continued her development in a big way in 2025, winning her first BIG EAST gold medal two weeks ago and notching the second and third all-conference honors of her career.
 
Retter qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary in the discus for the second straight season. She threw 46.02 meters in the competition to place eighth in her flight and 37^th overall. Saturday's outing capped off a sensational collegiate career for Retter, a former Division III national champion in the discus at Swarthmore who extended her lifetime PR this season with the second longest throw in school history at 52.31 meters.
 
Retter owns four of the 10 longest throws in the Villanova record book and has surpassed 50 meters in the discus six times during her career. She won her second BIG EAST medal in the event earlier this month when she finished third at the conference championships. Retter is ranked in the top 10 in school history in four different throwing events: second in the discus, third in the weight throw, fifth in the hammer and seventh in the shot put.