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GENEVA, Ohio - Villanova stormed out of the gate on the first day of competition at the 2018 BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championship presented by Jeep and led the early race for the team title when action concluded at the SPIRE Institute on Friday afternoon. Led by freshman conference champions Taryn Ashby (Pittston, Pa.) and Amanda McNelis (Commack, N.Y.), the Wildcats scored 54 points on the day to take a slim lead over St. John's and the rest of the eight-team conference field. Six events in the meet's 22-event program were scored during Friday's action.

Ashby added to her already impressive collegiate debut season by winning the javelin with a throw of 45.28 meters. This is the third straight year and the eighth time overall that Villanova has produced the BIG EAST javelin champion. Ashby actually recorded her winning throw on the first of her six attempts on the day, and then withstood any challenges to her mark to beat. Jade Gates from DePaul was the runner-up with a throw of 44.42 meters.

Earlier in the afternoon the Wildcats first champion of the meet was McNelis, who cleared a height of 3.55 meters on her first try to win the pole vault. In cool and breezy conditions on a typical Ohio lakeshore afternoon, only six competitors out of 10 total made it over the bar at the opening height of 3.10 meters. Five of the six were wearing Villanova shirts, and the Wildcats picked up 28 of the 36 points that were awarded in the event. McNelis cleared 3.55 meters on her first try, while Gemma Tedeschi of Marquette and Villanova redshirt freshman Dominique Franco (Richboro, Pa.) had successful attempts at the height on their second and third tries, respectively.

Franco finished third in the pole vault and was followed by junior Adeline Scelzi (Glen Allen, Va.) in fourth place (3.40m), freshman Cala Lejman (Ambler, Pa.) in fifth (3.25m) and sophomore Jessica Lee (Kailua, Hawaii) in sixth (3.10m). McNelis is the Wildcats third different athlete in the last five years to be the BIG EAST pole vault champion, joining Villanova alums Alexandra Wasik (2014) and Kathleen McPhillips (2015).

Junior Bella Burda (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) and freshman Alex Harris (Stony Point, N.Y.) were the runners-up in the 10000 meters and the 3000 meter steeplechase in the only two running events scored on Friday. Burda registered a time of 34:11.19 and notched the Wildcats best finish in the 10K since Amanda Marino came in second at the conference meet eight years ago. Harris and Margie Cullen from Georgetown waged a strong battle for the steeplechase title and ran well in front of the rest of the pack for much of the race. The pair was separated at the finish line by less than four-tenths of a second, with Harris posting a time of 10:33.80 to officially come in second.

Villanova is in good position moving forward into the second and final day of the meet on Saturday afternoon. The preliminary heats of several track events produced a total of 15 qualifiers for Saturday's finals, including a group of five Wildcats in the 1500 meters and four more in the 800 meters. Senior Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (Dublin, Ireland), sixth-year senior Kelsey Margey (Huntington, N.Y.) and freshman Rachel McArthur (Bristow, Va.) all won their heats of the 800 meters on Friday, while juniors Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.) and Ann Campbell (Mission Hills, Kan.) won the 1500 meter heats.

Redshirt freshman Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica) and sophomore Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.) each qualified for the finals in a pair of sprints. Williamson had the top overall time in the 100 meters (11.86) on Friday and also advanced in the 200 meters, while Burns moved on in both the 100 meter hurdles (13.62) and the 400 meter hurdles (1:01.30).

Action resumes on Saturday with field events at 12 p.m. and running events at 1 p.m. Live coverage on BEDN begins at 12:55 p.m. and will continue through the conclusion of the meet and the awards ceremony which is set to begin at approximately 5:40 p.m.