STORRS, Conn. – The final day of action at the 2022 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships presented by JEEP saw Villanova earn seven podium finishes, four of those being gold medal, for a second-place finish Saturday at the Sherman Family Sports Complex.

Villanova closed the two days of action with 156 total points, taking runner-up to host school UConn who led with 209 points. Sanaa Barnes earned Most Outstanding Female Field Performer honors with a gold medal performance in the high jump on the final day. Throughout the two days of championship action, Villanova racked up 14 podium spots. Five earned gold medals along with six silver and three bronze.

Field events were big for the 'Cats on the day two, winning gold in three events.

Jul Thomson bested the rest of the field in the discus by five meters, tallying a new personal best on her third throw at 50.56 meters to become the program's third outdoor champion in the event. Sade Meeks picked up the program's second gold medal in the shot put. She set a new outdoor record for Villanova at 15.26 meters, the second-best overall mark in team history. Tomson was also a point scorer in the shot put with a seventh-place throw of 13.44 meters in her fourth attempt.

Barnes won a dramatic high jump that went to a jump-off. She cleared the bar at 1.86 meters before facing off with UConn's Patricia Mroczkowski, taking the jump-off at 1.83 meters. She is now a two-time champion in the event at the outdoor meet, winning the fourth gold for the Wildcats in team outdoor history.

On the track, Jane Livingston won the first BIG EAST title of her career in the 100 meter hurdles, clocking in at 13.47, a new personal best. Jada Thomas finished close behind in fourth with a time of 13.86.

McKenna Keegan was second in the 400-meter dash, posting a new personal-best time of 53.28 time, tying for third on the program's all-time outdoor times list.

Villanova picked up a 2-3 finish in the 800 meter. Maya Dorer posted a new personal-best of 2:06.01 to take second while Madison Martinez clocked in at 2:06.05 for third.

Maggie Smith and Anna Helwigh earned team points in the 1500, finishing sixth (4:28.35) and (4:28.85), respectively.

In the triple jump, Liv Morgan posted a new personal best of 11.84 meters on her second jump, earning her a spot in the final. She ended up fifth in that event to contribute to the team score. Back on the track, Thomas had a seventh-place 100 meter dash, scoring points with a time of 12.29.

The first relay squad to compete for the 'Cats on Saturday was the 4x100 team of Thomas, Alexis Martin, Livingston and Trinity Hart, finishing fourth in 46.54. The last crew of Emily Robinson, Alex Stasichin, Emma McGill and Helwigh competed in the 4x800 meter, combining for a sixth-place 9:01.71 showing.

Competing in the heptathlon over the weekend, Caroline Carlson ended up seventh in that event with 4,327 points. She was consistently sixth, seventh and eighth during those events, finishing sixth in the 100 hurdles (15.35), shot out (10.19m) and 800 meter (2:31.05).