NEW YORK—Senior thrower Emily Galvin (Pitman, N.J.) recorded the fourth-longest throw in school history in the weight throw as Villanova started strong on the first of two days of competition at the Rutgers Open on Friday afternoon. Galvin was one of seven Wildcats in action at The Armory on what was a successful overall day of competition for the team. The meet kicked off a busy weekend for Villanova, which has groups of men's and women's athletes competing in meets hosted by Rutgers, Clemson, Vanderbilt and Washington over two days of action.
 
The championship section of the weight throw was contested on Friday morning and graduate thrower Sade Meeks (North Babylon, N.Y.) tallied a mark of 19.13 meters to finish second in the competition. Meeks, already the school record holder in both the weight throw and the shot put this season, posted the fifth-best mark of her career and second-longest in school history on her first throw in the final round. She was in third place after three throws and qualified for the final and three more attempts before wounding up second overall out of 15 competitors in her section.
 
Later in the day was the college section of the weight throw in which Galvin and graduate Jul Thomson (Otterville, Ont.) placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Galvin registered a personal best mark of 16.59 meters to pass Thomson for third place on the Wildcats all-time performance list. It is the third time this season that Galvin has increased her PR in her top indoor event, and Friday's distance also ranks fourth overall among the top Villanova marks in the weight throw. Thomson's top mark of the day was 16.01 meters.
 
Earlier in the day seniors Trinity Hart (Scotch Plains, N.J.) and Liv Morgan (Bronx, N.Y.) competed nearly simultaneously in the preliminary heats of the 60 meters and in their flight of the long jump. Hart came in sixth out of 35 athletes in the long jump with a distance of 5.46 meters during the final round and also had a time of 7.91 in the 60 meters. Morgan tallied marks of 5.13 meters in the long jump and 8.32 meters in her 60-meter heat.
 
Senior sprinter Jada Thomas (Kingston, Jamaica) opened up her indoor season and advanced to the final of the 60 meter hurdles. She came in eighth overall out of 31 entries in the preliminary heats on Friday morning with a time of 8.81 and was an on-time qualifier for the final after finishing third in her heat. Senior Alexis Martin (Gaithersburg, Md.) won her heat of the 400 meters in 59.67.