SEATTLE, Wash.—Villanova opened two days of competition at the Husky Classic on Friday night with the longer distance events on the track. A total of five athletes were in action in the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters at Dempsey Indoor, with strong results coming out of both races. The middle distance events take center stage on Saturday with the Wildcats fielding entries in the invitational sections of both the Mile and the 800 meters.
The final event of the night Friday was the invitational heats in the 3000 meters. The trio of junior
Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.), freshman
Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) and junior
Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) ran in the same section. Smith led the way with a personal best time of 9:21.43 and rose to third place on this season's BIG EAST performance list in the 3K. She eclipsed her previous PR from high school by more than five seconds with Friday's result.
Smith finished 17
th overall out of 83 competitors in the 3000 meters, while Sigfstead was 20
th and Helwigh was 27
th. Sigfstead crossed the finish line in 9:27.04 and Helwigh had a time of 9:32.81 to lower her previous personal best by 14.5 seconds. Helwigh has registered PRs in both the Mile and the 3000 meters this season, with her time on Friday lowering her high school mark of 9:47.30 which she recorded in May 2016. Helwigh has primarily run in the middle distance events on the track and in the steeplechase outdoors since beginning her collegiate career.
Freshman
Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) ran in an earlier section of the 3000 meters on Friday and posted a personal best time of 9:41.77 to beat her previous PR by more than 15 seconds. McGill ran the 3K in her collegiate debut earlier this season when she tallied a time of 9:56.26 at the Penn 10-Team Select in January.
The invitational section of the 5000 meters was also on the Villanova schedule Friday night and senior
Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) registered a time of 16:35.20 in her race. Olivere had previously established personal bests in the Mile and the 3000 meters earlier this year.
