CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Senior high jumper Sanaä Barnes (Keller, Texas) recorded her best mark of the season when she cleared the bar at a height of 1.82 meters on the final day of the Virginia Challenge on Saturday afternoon. Villanova wrapped up three days of competition at Lannigan Field with several sprinters, middle distance runners and field athletes in action. In addition to Barnes highlighting the team's results for the day, the Wildcats had four different athletes record personal best marks in their respective events.
 
Barnes secured her spot for postseason competition with her result, which moved her into a tie for 16^th place nationally and a tie for ninth place on the East region qualifying list for this season. The top 48 declared athletes in each individual event will qualify for the NCAA East Preliminary meet next month, while the top performers from that meet advance to the national championships. Barnes is a four-time All-American in the high jump, the school record holder in the event both indoors and outdoors, and competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last summer.
 
In her second outing of the outdoor season Barnes came into the competition with the bar at 1.71 meters and she easily made her first two attempts of the day at that height as well as when the bar moved to 1.76 meters. She was competing in the invitational section of the high jump and was one of six athletes still going when the bar was raised to 1.79 meters. Barnes made it over on her second try at that height and all five of the other competitors missed on their three tries. That left Barnes to continue solo and she made it over at 1.82 meters on her second attempt. The bar was raised once more to 1.85 meters where Barnes missed on three attempts.
 
Sophomore high jumper Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) also competed in the invitational section and she finished eighth with a mark of 1.71 meters for the day. Clayton cleared the bar at 1.71 meters on her second attempt before being eliminated at a height of 1.76 meters. She ranks third in school history in the high jump and qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary meet as a freshman last season. Freshman high jumper Taylor Woodeshick (Nescopeck, Pa.) tied her personal best from the indoor season with a height of 1.61 meters in the open section of the high jump.
 
Villanova got personal best performances from freshmen middle distance runners Maya Dorer (New York, N.Y.) and Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) in the 800 meters. Dorer competed in the invitational section and posted a PR of 2:07.85, while Robinson registered a time of 2:12.93 in the open section of the 800 meters and lowered her PR for the third time this season. Fellow freshman Alex Stasichin (Massapequa, N.Y.) crossed the line with a time of 2:15.77.
 
In the sprints earlier on Saturday afternoon, junior Jane Livingston (Lancaster, Pa.) placed sixth in the 100 meter hurdles in 13.63 and junior Alexis Martin (Gaithersburg, Md.) recorded a time of 25.79 in the 200 meters. The final event of the day for the Wildcats was the 4x400 meter relay in which the team recorded a time of 3:53.85.
 
Graduate throwers Sade Meeks (North Babylon, N.Y.) and Jul Thomson (Otterville, Ont.) each competed in the shot put. Meeks came in 12^th out of more than 30 athletes with a mark of 14.59 meters. It represents the sixth-longest outdoor throw in school history, with Meeks holding the overall school record of 15.50 meters set during the indoor season. Thomson recorded a season best mark of 13.01 meters in Saturday's competition.
 
The final three events of the heptathlon were contested on Saturday and sophomore Caroline Carlson (Miami, Fla.) finished with a score of 4,192 points in her first heptathlon of the season. She moved up to eighth place out of 15 competitors with her results on Saturday, which included throwing for a personal best distance of 29.48 meters in the javelin. Carlson also registered a long jump of 5.12 meters and finished off the day by running the 800 meters in 2:41.51.