PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Freshman thrower Taryn Ashby (Pittston, Pa.) finished first in the college section of the javelin in one of the top performances for Villanova on the second day of the 124th running of the Penn Relays. Friday's action at Franklin Field was highlighted by the Wildcats continuing their historic run in the Championship of America relays with a win in the 4x1500 relay, while the day closed with Ashby's big result in the javelin and a noteworthy race for Villanova in the sprint medley relay.

Ashby came out on top in a field of 28 throwers after recording a personal best mark of 46.16 meters. It came on her third of six attempts in the competition and moved her into the lead for good. She had already been second in the BIG EAST performance list this season, and her new PR moves her up to 29th on the East Region qualifying list which will be used in selecting entries for the NCAA East Preliminary next month. Ashby also ascended one spot into fourth place on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the javelin.

Her first attempt of the day was a throw of 44.82 meters and instantly gave her the mark to beat after each competitor had thrown for the first time. She was in second place after the second round of throws when a mark of 45.59 meters surpassed her initial attempt, but Ashby reclaimed the lead with her new personal best effort on the third throw. The last Villanova thrower to record a first place finish in the college section of the javelin at Penn Relays was Jamie Klein in 2012.

Prior to Friday, it had been more than 15 years since the Wildcats had the depth on their roster to put together a sprint medley relay to compete at Penn. A lineup of sophomore Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica), freshman Sarah Jones (Sewell, N.J.), sophomore Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.) and sophomore Amari Onque-Shabazz (Plainfield, N.J.) put an end to that streak and was clocked in 4:01.62 to notch the fifth-fastest time in school history. Villanova came in 10th out of 23 teams in an event that head coach Gina Procaccio thinks the team can continue to develop in.

"That's my goal one of these years is to win that sprint medley," Procaccio said during a pre-Penn Relays podcast. "We have the bodies to put a pretty respectable lineup together and we are excited to get some of our sprinters into the meet and have them compete on the sprint medley."

Three of the four members of the sprint medley relay also ran in the heats of individual events earlier in the afternoon. Williamson ran the 100 meters in 12.12 to come in fourth in her heat, while Jones and Burns each ran in the preliminaries of the 100 meter hurdles. Jones recorded a time of 14.26 and Burns finished in 14.46.

Rounding out the day's results for the Wildcats was the college section of the triple jump, in which junior Courtney Caldwell (Trenton, N.J.) recorded a mark of 11.05 meters.

Villanova wraps up competition at the Penn Relays on Saturday afternoon with the Championship of America race in the 4x800 meter relay.