VILLANOVA, Pa.—High jumpers
Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) and
Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) combined for Villanova's first 1-2 finish in a field event in five years and the Wildcats had eight individual scorers on Thursday to surge into first place in the team standings after one day of competition at the 2024 BIG EAST Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP. Clayton tied a Villanova Stadium record to win her third consecutive conference high jump title. Strong finishes in the high jump, hammer and 10,000 meters accounted for 33.5 points for the Wildcats.
Clayton came into the high jump competition when the bar was set at 1.76 meters (5-9 ¼) and she won the title on her first jump of the day, with Cunningham and bronze medalist Natalia Jackowski from Marquette each missing on their three tries at that height. Clayton went on to clear the bar again at 1.81 meters, becoming the first athlete in 13 years to equal the stadium record, while she missed on three attempts at 1.86 meters which would have tied the BIG EAST outdoor championship record. The stadium record was initially set by Jennifer Engelhardt from Notre Dame in 1999 and later equaled by Rachel Gehret from Louisville in 2008 and again in 2011.
Villanova scored 20.5 points in the high jump with Clayton's championship, Cunningham's runner-up finish with a height of 1.73 meters and a tie for sixth place by junior
Taylor Woodeshick (Nescopeck, Pa.) who tallied her best career BIG EAST finish while tying her season best mark at 1.60 meters. The last field event in which the Wildcats had a 1-2 finish was the 2019 indoor pole vault.
The first individual event of the meet was a big one for the Wildcats earlier on Thursday afternoon as the trio of
Alex Payne (Silverdale, Wash.),
Adria Retter (Quakertown, Pa.) and
Jordan Williams (Fresno, Calif.) all scored in the hammer. Payne came in fourth with a mark of 51.80 meters and moved up a spot on her final attempt. Retter threw 48.77 meters, also on her last throw of the day, to record a seventh place finish and Williams came in eighth with a mark of 47.17 meters.
Villanova ended the night with sixth and seventh place finishes by sophomore
Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) and junior
Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) in the 10,000 meters. It was the first career 10K race for both athletes and they crossed the finish line less than a second apart. Arrieta recorded a time of 35:14.59 and Carroll posted a time of 35:15.53. Senior
Elizabeth Vaughn (Dayton, Ohio) also competed and finished 11
th in 35:56.13.
Action continues on Friday morning at the BIG EAST Championships. The live broadcast on BEDN powered by FloSports goes on the air later in the day ahead of preliminary heats in the track events at 2 p.m.
