CHICAGO, Ill.—Fifth year distance runner Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) won her ninth career BIG EAST track medal and fifth year pole vaulter Ashley Preston (Franklinville, N.J.) earned her seventh career medal in her signature event to highlight Villanova's opening day of results at the 2023 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships presented by Jeep. The Wildcats had entries in five of the six scored events on Friday and accumulated a total of 19 points at Dr. Conrad Worrill Indoor Track and Field Center at Gately Park.
 
Preston was the silver medalist in the pole vault and Olivere won bronze in the 5000 meters with a performance that put her onto Villanova's all-time indoor performance list in the 5K. The other team points for the Wildcats in Friday's events came from a fourth place finish in the distance medley relay. A lineup of senior Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark), senior Alexis Martin (Gaithersburg, Md.), sophomore Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) and sophomore Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) closed out the first day of competition with a time of 11:25.95.
 
Villanova scored its first points of the weekend with Preston's runner-up finish in the pole vault. She cleared the bar at a height of 3.75 meters to place second out of 10 competitors. Preston came into the competition with the bar at 3.65 meters when only four athletes remained. She made it over the bar on her third attempt of the day and then cleared 3.75 meters on her first try. Preston and eventual champion Kalli Knott of Connecticut were the only two athletes who advanced to make attempts at 3.85 meters.
 
This is the fourth straight season in which Preston has tallied an All-BIG EAST indoors finish in the pole vault (there was no indoor BIG EAST meet in 2021). She and school record holder Alexandra Wasik are the only athletes in school history to record four career indoor top-three finishes in the pole vault; Preston is the only one to have four indoor finishes in first or second place.
 
In the final individual event of the night Olivere came in third with a time of 16:13.50 in the 5000 meters. The time makes her the No. 10 all-time indoor performer in the Wildcats record book. Olivere was running her first 5K race of the season and has run as fast as 16:10.37 outdoors during her career. She is also entered in the 3000 meters on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) and fifth year Ariana Gardizy (Lansdale, Pa.) each recorded personal best times in the 5000 meters. Arrieta came in 10^th in 16:58.33 and Gardizy was 11^th with a time of 17:06.20.
 
Olivere has won nine career BIG EAST medals in track & field, including seven in individual events. She moved up three spots in the 5000 meters from where she finished last year when she came in sixth in the 5K and was runner-up in the 3000 meters. Earlier this season Olivere posted a BIG EAST-leading and personal best time of 9:02.81 in the 3K.
 
Later on Friday evening the DMR team of Helwigh, Martin, Robinson and McGill raced to a fourth place finish in 9:36.28. The first three runners in the Villanova lineup had all run preliminary heats of their individual events earlier in the day, while McGill is slated to run in the 3000 meters on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats opened up with Helwigh recording a split of 3:28.06 on the 1200 meter opening leg of the relay, while Martin followed with a split of 57.99 over 400 meters. Robinson ran the 800 meter leg in 2:13.27 and McGill anchored with a split of 4:46.65 for the final 1600 meters.
 
Villanova had entries in women's long jump and weight throw which took place earlier on Friday. The first event of the day was the weight throw in which sophomore Faith Haught (Payson, Ariz.) recorded a mark of 14.85 meters to finish in ninth place. Junior Caroline Carlson (Miami, Fla.) came in 15^th in the long jump with a mark of 4.98 meters.
 
The rest of Friday's action featured preliminary heats in the 60 meters, 60 meter hurdles, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters and mile. The Wildcats had nine runners advance to tomorrow's final in their respective events, including senior sprinter Jane Livingston (Lancaster, Pa.) qualifying in both the 60 meters and the 60 meter hurdles. Livingston recorded a personal best time of 7.57 in the 60 meters and was the fastest qualifier in the hurdles with a time of 8.40. Fifth year Jada Thomas (Kingston, Jamaica) advanced on time to the final of the hurdles with a mark of 8.94 in the preliminaries.
 
Villanova advanced all three of its entries in the 800 meters to the final. Sophomore Maya Dorer (New York, N.Y.) and senior Madison Martinez (Gahanna, Ohio) were automatic qualifiers out of the first and third heats, respectively. Sophomore Alex Stasichin (Massapequa, N.Y.) ran in the second heat and advanced on time with a new personal best of 2:09.61. Helwigh and Robinson were each automatic qualifiers in the mile after posting times of 4:49.35 and 4:50.47 in their respective heats. Robinson recorded a new personal best in the second heat and freshman Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.) ran a PR of 5:07.32 in the first heat.
 
Freshman sprinter Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) ran a season best time of 55.38 in the 400 meters and is the second-fastest qualifier for the final. In the preliminaries of the 200 meters, freshman Myonica Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill.) recorded a personal best time of 25.21 and Martin posted a time of 25.73.
 
The first event on Saturday's schedule is women's shot put starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time (10:30 a.m. CT), while the first final on the track is the mile at 12:30 p.m. Eastern (11:30 a.m. CT).