PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - There had been some uncertainty as to whether or not the Villanova women would run the 4x800 meter relay on Saturday afternoon. When you leave that decision in the hands of world-class athletes who have already won two races in as many days, is there really any doubt about what is going to happen? For the sixth time ever and the second time in the last four years, the Wildcats completed a distance triple at the Penn Relays by winning the Championship of America title in the 4x800 meter relay at Franklin Field on Saturday afternoon. The third championship of the weekend followed victories in the distance medley relay on Thursday evening and the 4x1500 meter relay on Friday afternoon.

Junior Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (Dublin, Ireland) anchored for the second straight day and was named the College Women's Athlete of the Meet for the Relay Events. Fifth-year senior Angel Piccirillo (Homer City, Pa.) ran the second leg and added to her record total for career Penn Relays victories one day after she became the outright collegiate women's record holder. Sophomore Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.) and freshman McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) ran the first and third legs of Saturday's race with the kind of grit and will-to-win that makes a runner a Villanovan.

Few programs could even think about fielding a lineup as stacked as the ones the Wildcats put out on the track this weekend. The four members of Saturday's lineup for the 4x800 relay, plus sophomore Bella Burda (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) who led off Friday's 4x1500 race, have won a combined 23 Penn Relays watches. Since the 4x1500 meter relay made its debut at the 1989 meet, there have been just nine years where one school won a distance triple on the women's side of the meet. Villanova has done it six times.

"What can I say? They're just phenomenal," Wildcats head coach Gina Procaccio said. "I know I told some of you after the press conference yesterday that I was considering not running the 4x8. It was hot, and I know they wanted Angel to get that record and she got her eighth win, so I thought not to be greedy. I told them that, told them they can sleep on it and it's their decision if they want to. Angel texted me last night and said she and Siofra were talking about it and they want to run."

Hutchinson, whose hand-written goals for this year included running on all three relays at Penn, led off the 4x800 and had a split of 2:09.03. She was in a crowd at the first exchange, and Piccirillo took the baton for the second leg with five teams narrowly in front of her as she came around the first turn. Piccirillo pushed the pace on the second pass through the back straight and ran a split of 2:03.62 to give the baton to Keegan with Villanova in the lead.

There were 250 meters left in the third leg of the race when Stanford made a big move to try and separate itself from a leading pack that was still five teams strong. So the Cardinal went, and Keegan followed. She never let the lead out of her sights and finished her leg of the race with a split of 2:08.14. Just six-tenths of a second separated the Wildcats, Penn State and Stanford at the final exchange.

Cleirigh Buttner ran 2:04.10 for the anchor leg and pushed away from the Cardinal's anchor Olivia Baker with just under 300 meters left. Danae Rivers of the Nittany Lions made a late charge but Cleirigh Buttner hung on with a winning time of 8:24.87. Penn State (8:25.49) and Stanford (8:26.89) followed.

During the distance medley relay on Thursday evening, Cleirigh Buttner blew open the race during the third leg of the relay. She made her move on the anchor leg of the 4x1500 relay on Friday with just over 200 meters to go. She commented that she listened to her legs as to when it was time to make a move. The reporters at Saturday's press conference asked what Cleirigh Buttner's legs were saying in the weekend finale.

"In my strides they didn't feel great but I know my legs are going to be fine once I get going," Cleirigh Buttner said. "It slowed down a bit coming up to the bell and I was thinking just wait. That 220 mark has been so good for me. Every time it seems to be my mark, and then coming off the 'Nova section again [300 meters to go] I was like oh god, just wait, but I wanted to go so bad. I don't even know when I'm going. I just go and that's it. Then I'm at the line and the girls are mauling me. It's hard to describe but it was great to be out there for a third day again."

Villanova has won an unprecedented 40 women's Championship of America titles at the Penn Relays, including a dozen just in the last six years. Said another way: 12 since '12. When that is your tradition, Procaccio wasn't surprised that her athletes chose to run Saturday's race.

"When you're the coach you don't want to put them through too much, and then I thought about myself as an athlete," Procaccio said. "Who am I kidding? Of course we want to get out there and run. That's what you do here. Then I just had to figure out the other two legs. McKenna wasn't told until 2:00 today that she was running it. You worry how their legs are going to feel on that third day but there's just so much adrenaline and momentum going after winning the first two. They don't know anything else. I knew when they said they want to do it, it's because they felt they could win."

Piccirillo redshirted the 2016 outdoor season when she developed a foot injury, and immediately was looking ahead to the possibility of using her final year of eligibility to come back and run in a Villanova singlet one more time at the Penn Relays. That made Saturday's race, her last for the Wildcats at Franklin Field, a bittersweet one.

"I think I've made it now," Piccirillo said. "I'm choking up because today was just a lot, but there was a feeling when Siofra and I were talking that we weren't done yesterday. It felt great to win and we were all excited about it, but we felt like there was more and we wanted to come back out. Nine is Gina's number. It has always been her number. Siofra and I were like, 'we can't stop, let's go get nine.' On the victory lap I knew this was the last one for sure. Yesterday we had it in our heads that we were going to run and that was that. This one was it for me and it's great. I could not be more excited about how we all ran and the weekend, and the last Penn Relays Championship of America I'll run here for Villanova."

"When we came in this week we were prepared to run three," Cleirigh Buttner said. "We just hoped to take it one day at a time, which is what we did. When you have two, there is nothing to lose. There is no going back really. We just said we may as well get another one. Angel had won eight wheels, so what's nine? It was for Villanova as well. When you see the Nova section back out for a third day, you have to get back out there for them. We did our job today just like they did theirs."