VILLANOVA, Pa.—Graduate student Lizzie Martell (Essex Junction, Vt.) is among the athletes selected on Tuesday night to compete at next week's 2026 Indoor Track & Field Championships. Martell is a qualifier in the 800 meters and will represent Villanova on a national stage next week in Fayetteville, Ark. The preliminary heats of the 800 meters are scheduled for Friday, March 13 at 6:25 p.m. Central time (7:25 p.m. Eastern time) at Lance Harter Track at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
 
Martell has lowered her lifetime personal best in the 800 meters by more than two seconds over the course of the season, with her current mark of 2:01.70 setting the Wildcats new indoor record last month during the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. Her time was a top-eight mark in the country at the time of the race and is just over three-quarters of a second faster than the previous indoor school record of 2:02.46 set by Siofra Cleirigh Buttner in a runner-up finish at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
 
Martell's season to date has include her school record in the 800 meters along with the third-fastest time in school history in the 500 meters. That race came on January 17 at the Quaker Invitational when she ran 1:11.19. She also ran on Villanova's school record DMR team in Seattle one night before her individual 800 meter record. She split 2:01.7 on the 800 meter leg of the DMR and the Wildcats posted a time of 10:49.98 in the relay, beating by 2.5 seconds the mark of Villanova's 2011 national championship team.
 
In the preliminary heats of the 800 meters at the NCAA Championships, the top three runners in each heat and the next two fastest times will move on to the national championship race on Saturday, March 14 at 5:10 p.m. Central time (6:10 p.m. Eastern).