EUGENE, Ore.—For the third straight time on a national stage, senior high jumper Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) soared to new heights at the NCAA Championships. She tied the outdoor Villanova record of 1.87 meters (6-1 ½) and tied for a fifth place finish to earn first team All-America honors. Clayton has competed at three NCAA meets during her career and has improved her standing at each one. During the 2024 collegiate seasons she tied for sixth place indoors before moving up a spot with her finish at Hayward Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
Clayton already owned the absolute school record of 1.88 meters which she first set in Boston this February and then equaled at the same venue during the NCAA Championships a month later. Her best previous outdoor mark was a height of 1.85 meters in her season opener in Miami earlier this year. With her jump of 1.87 meters on Saturday, Clayton is tied with former teammate Sanaä Barnes for the outdoor school record. She also tied a Villanova Stadium record of 1.81 meters at this year's BIG EAST Championships.
 
Early momentum proved to be a difference maker for Clayton in Saturday's national championship. She came into the competition with the bar at its second installment of 1.77 meters and reeled off two straight successful attempts at that height and the next bar raise to 1.82 meters. Clayton was one of five athletes in the field of two dozen without a miss when the bar moved up to 1.87 meters with 14 competitors remaining.
 
After her first miss of the day at 1.87 meters, Clayton easily made it over the bar on her second attempt as the field whittled down to eight athletes who continued on to make attempts at 1.91 meters. That height would have represented a lifetime best and absolute school record by a margin of three centimeters and Clayton was unsuccessful on her three attempts despite being tantalizingly close on her fist and last tries at the height.
 
Clayton was tied for fifth place when the bar moved to 1.91 meters and stayed in that spot to earn her second first team All-America honor of the year. It is now a full year since the Villanova star made her NCAA Championships debut outdoors in Austin, Texas last year and tied for a 14^th place finish which earned her second team All-America recognition. She impressively built on that milestone in 2024 with BIG EAST titles both indoors and outdoors as well as becoming the Wildcats first athlete to win a Penn Relays high jump championship.
 
Saturday's finish makes Clayton and Barnes the only two field athletes in Villanova history to earn at least three career All-America honors. Clayton is also a three-time BIG EAST champion. She accounts for eight of the top 12 overall performances in school history in the high jump and still has another year of collegiate eligibility remaining in 2024-25.
 
Villanova scored 3.5 team points with Clayton's podium finish, marking the fifth time in the last six years and 31^st time overall that the Wildcats have scored team points at the outdoor NCAA Championships. Entering this year's meet, Villanova was one of 26 Division I women's programs and the only BIG EAST school to score at least 30 times at the outdoor national meet.
 
Although the collegiate season is officially ended with the end of the NCAA Championships on Saturday evening, there is still plenty to come in the 2024 competition season for several Wildcats in the coming weeks and months. The next two Villanovans who will be in competition are rising sophomores Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas) and Ajanae Thompson (Rahway, N.J.) who will be in action at Hayward Field this coming week (June 12-13) for the USATF U20 Championships.