GENEVA, Ohio—Big performances from several of the freshmen on the Villanova roster were part of a terrific day of competition overall as the BIG EAST Championships got underway at the SPIRE Institute on Friday afternoon.  Event titles in the pole vault, the pentathlon and the distance medley relay have the Wildcats currently sitting atop the team standings with 71 points.  First-year athletes Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) and Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) were the pole vault and pentathlon champions, respectively.  Villanova also won the distance medley relay in 11:37.53 with a lineup that consisted of freshman Reilly Siebert (Syosset, N.Y.), senior Sammy Bockoven (Hudson, Ohio), freshman Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) and junior Ann Campbell (Mission Hills, Kan.). 
 
There were a total of 10 individual scorers spread across four individual events for the Wildcats during Friday's action.  Villanova tallied four top-eight finishes in the pole vault and three in the pentathlon, to go along with two scorers in the 5000 meters and one in the long jump.  There were three runner-up finishes to go along with the team's three titles on the day.  Preston and Morgan led 1-2 finishes in the pole vault and the pentathlon, while graduate transfer Caroline Alcorta (Springfield, Va.) came in second in a close finish in the 5000 meters.   
 
In addition to scoring in five of the six events which were completed during Friday's action, the Wildcats also set themselves up for a big scoring day on Saturday with 13 athletes advancing to the final of their respective events.  Villanova had the top qualifiers in three different events, including junior Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica) in the 60 meters, junior McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) in the 800 meters and sophomore Rachel McArthur (Bristow, Va.) in the Mile. 
 
Preston matched a lifetime best mark by clearing a height of 3.85 meters in the pole vault.  Senior Adeline Scelzi (Glen Allen, Va.), a former indoor conference champion in her own right, came in second with a clearance of 3.75 meters.  Sophomores Amanda McNelis (Commack, N.Y.) and Cala Lejman (Ambler, Pa.) placed fifth (3.65m) and sixth (3.50m), respectively. 
 
"I'm very overwhelmed right now," Preston said after competition wrapped up in the pole vault.  "I came out here and tried to do my best.  I was confident in my jump today and I didn't hold back.  My step was a big struggle for me [all season] but I just tried to make it consistent and pulled it off today." 
 
Morgan set a new personal best with a score of 3,555 points in the pentathlon.  That is the fourth-highest point total in school history, and came after a steady effort in which Morgan was in the top three of the pentathlon field in each of the five disciplines.  She opened the day by leading the field with a time of 9.00 in the 60 meter hurdles, then went on to post marks of 1.51 meters in the high jump, 11.27 meters in the shot put, 5.39 meters in the long jump and 2:26.90 in the 800 meters. 
 
Junior Sofia Calabrese (Edwards, Colo.) scored a career-high 3,408 points and surged to a second place finish by running away from the field in the 800 meters.  She recorded a time of 2:22.47 and scored 790 points in the pentathlon's final event, with Morgan four seconds behind her (2:26.90) and junior Ava Coleman (Southington, Conn.) on Morgan's heels (2:27.29).  Coleman came in sixth overall with 3,156 points after debuting in the pentathlon at the collegiate level earlier this season. 
 
Alcorta was the runner-up in the 5000 meters with a time of 16:48.66, while senior Bella Burda (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) registered a time of 17:32.79 and came in sixth.  The race was decided by less than a second at the finish line after Alcorta and Brianna Ilarda of Providence separated themselves from the pack.  Both runners are also entered in the 3000 meters on Saturday afternoon. 
 
Also scoring for Villanova on Friday was junior Gloria Donou (East Brunswick, N.J.), who placed fourth in the long jump with a mark of 5.40 meters.  Donou is one of three Wildcats who will compete in the triple jump tomorrow. 
 
The first events for Villanova on Saturday are at 12 p.m., which is when the triple jump gets underway and also the start time for the first final on the track.  That race will be one to watch early in the day, as McArthur, Campbell, senior Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.) and freshman Taryn O'Neill (Lake Country, B.C.) will all be running.