BOSTON, Mass.—Graduate student Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) impacted the national and BIG EAST leaderboards along with the all-time Villanova record book in the 3000 meters in a sensational race at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston on Friday night. Olivere was one of three Wildcats who lowered their personal best times in their respective events during competition at the Track & Tennis Center.
 
Friday's schedule for Villanova included the 800 meters, the mile and the 3000 meters spread out over the course of the morning, afternoon and evening. Olivere ran in the 3000 meters just after 7 p.m. and recorded a lifetime best mark of 9:02.81 in the second heat of the event. She is only the sixth runner in school history to record a time that fast in the 3000 meters either indoors or outdoors. The time is the eighth-fastest overall in the program's indoor record book.
 
Olivere vaults into this year's BIG EAST lead in the 3000 meters by a margin of more than 16 seconds, grabbing the fastest time in the conference away from sophomore teammate Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) who was also in action on Friday and is one of the top BIG EAST performers this year in the mile. The time of 9:02.81 for Olivere would have ranked 11^th nationally at the start of the day and tentatively put her 19^th on the NCAA Division I performance list as of the end of competition in Boston on Friday night. Olivere is a two-time All-BIG EAST performer in the 3K, including a runner-up finish last season and a third place showing as a sophomore in 2020.
 
Graduate student Ariana Gardizy (Lansdale, Pa.) ran the 3000 meters for the second time this season and freshman Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) made her Villanova track debut in the event after having had a successful cross country season in the Fall. Gardizy posted a time of 9:37.43 in Friday night's race and Arrieta tallied a time of 9:50.60 in the Wildcats final race of the evening.
 
Earlier in the day McGill notched the second-fastest time of her career in the mile with a mark of 4:40.95, while senior Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) and sophomore Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) each established new personal best times. Helwigh posted a mark of 4:45.93 in her race on Friday afternoon and Robinson had a time of 4:50.83. It is the second time this season that Robinson has lowered her PR, as she previously ran 4:54.76 at the Penn State National Open earlier in the indoor season.
 
The first event of the day for Villanova was the 800 meters in which sophomores Maya Dorer (New York, N.Y.) and Alex Stasichin (Massapequa, N.Y.) were both in action. Dorer registered a season-best time of 2:08.08 in her race and Stasichin posted a time of 2:12.63.