PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—In a dominant performance fitting of the winningest program in Penn Relays history, the Villanova women's 4x1500 meter relay cruised to an 11-second margin of victory to claim its fourth consecutive Championship of America title at Franklin Field on Friday afternoon.  The team of freshman Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.), sophomore Rachel McArthur (Bristow, Va.), graduate student Caroline Alcorta (Springfield, Va.) and senior Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.) raced away from the field and recorded a winning time of 17:39.26. 
 
This is the second streak of four consecutive wins in the 4x1500 meter relay for the Wildcats, who previously accomplished the feat from 1992-95.  How impressive is it to have multiple four-peats?  In the 26 years that the 4x1500 relay has been contested, only one other team besides Villanova has won a championship in the relay four times total (Stanford).  With today's win, the Wildcats have won exactly half of the 4x1500 relays that have been contested. 
 
"I thought they ran great," Villanova head coach Gina Procaccio said.  "The advice I gave them today was 'don't try to be a hero.'  Just put Nicole in the race and I believed she was strong enough to handle a challenge from any anchor."
 
The outcome was all but decided during the second leg of the race when McArthur quickly broke away from the pack and turned in a 1500 meter split that was eight seconds faster than any of the other teams ran.  It was cruise control from that point on for the Wildcats, with Hutchinson taking the baton for the anchor leg with a sizable lead and nothing but space around her. 
 
"Watching them run the way they did and give me such a big lead was so exciting for me," Hutchinson said of her teammates on the first three legs of the race.  "They did all the work and all I had to do was keep it where it was.  It was really just about running conservative and making sure that just in case something happened and someone caught up I had enough that I could go and get away from anyone."
 
Olivere, a freshman who was running in her first collegiate relay, led off the race with a split of 4:28.6.  It was the second strong performance over 1500 meters in the past week for Olivere, whose PR for an open 1500 meter race (4:29.01) was set six days ago in the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton.  She had been entered in Thursday night's steeplechase during distance night before finding out three days ago that she would be running on the 4x1500 relay team.  Being in this particular race as a first-year collegiate runner put Olivere in good company among the teammates sitting next to her in the press conference. 
 
"If there is a freshman that's strong enough to do it I always want to give them the opportunity so that they can carry on the legacy," Procaccio said.  "Rachel was on [the 4x1500] last year as a freshman – she won two relays last year – and Nicole was on this one as a freshman." 
 
McArthur ran the second leg of the relay in 4:18.4 and handed off to Alcorta with Villanova owning a nearly five-second advantage at the front of the race.  Alcorta recorded a split of 4:28.0 on the third leg and Hutchinson anchored the victory with a split of 4:24.3.
 
"Rachel's job was, I told her just to clean up and stretch it out," Procaccio said.  "She was phenomenal, and did all that.  She opened it up pretty easily.  Caroline's job was to play it safe and keep it solid for Nicole.  They all did a great job and I was really proud of them."