SEATTLE, Wash.—Junior distance runner Sadie Sigfstead (Vancouver, B.C.) recorded one of the best performances of her career with a time of 15:44.11 in the 5000 meters on Friday night. Sigfstead raced in the invitational section of the 5K at the Husky Classic and recorded the sixth-fastest absolute time in school history while surging into second place on this year's BIG EAST performance list.
 
Sigfstead lowered her lifetime best in the 5000 meters by more than 30 seconds with a signature race that kicks her 2024 indoor season into high gear. Her time of 15:44.11 at Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus is the third-fastest indoor mark in the Villanova record book and easily bested Sigfstead's previous PR of 16:17.19 which was set outdoors last Spring at the Penn Relays.
 
The last Wildcats runner to post a faster indoor 5K time was three-time Olympian Jen Rhines who ran 15:41.12 on March 10, 1995 in Indianapolis, Ind., when she captured the second of her four collegiate national titles in the 5K. Sigfstead moves into fourth place overall in school history in the 5,000 meters behind Rhines, Sheila Reid (15:23.64) and Sonia O'Sullivan (15:17.28) whose school record time was the one-time world record when she established the mark in 1991.
 
Villanova kicked off a busy weekend on Friday with women's competition at the Eagle Elite Invitational in Boston and the Fastrack National Invite in New York in addition to Sigfstead's race in Seattle. The current weekend represents one of the last chances to tally season-best marks and NCAA Championships qualifying times prior to the conference championship meets which will be held around the country later in the month.
 
Competition remains for the Wildcats on Saturday in Boston with events taking place between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.