PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Facing strong competition from some of the top teams on the Eastern seaboard, Villanova got outstanding performances from its middle distance and distance runners at The Ott Center to headline its results from the Penn 10 Elite meet on Saturday afternoon. The top performers for the Wildcats included seniors Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) and Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) in the mile and the 3000 meters, respectively, as well as first year collegian Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.) making her indoor debut in the 800 meters and senior thrower Alex Payne (Silverdale, Wash.) opening up in the weight throw.
 
The final individual event of the day was the 3000 meters in which Carroll and junior Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) each ran terrific races. Carroll lowered her PR in the 3K by nearly 13 seconds and finished fourth out of 14 runners with a time of 9:23.83. Arrieta was seventh in the race in 9:43.47 after running even with Carroll for more than a mile at the start of the race. They were each right around five minutes flat through the opening mile, with Arrieta's result particularly impressive given that her PR in an open mile race is 5:16. Carroll moved into fifth place on this year's BIG EAST performance list with her time.
 
McGill and senior Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) tallied personal bests in the mile. After winning the mile in her season debut on the same track last week, McGill posted a lifetime best mark of 4:38.42 in Saturday's race. Robinson followed her in 4:44.63 as the duo took over fourth and fifth places on this year's BIG EAST descending order list. They were joined in the mile by collegiate rookie Bella Walsh (Middletown, Del.) who ran 4:45.75 and moved to seventh place on the BIG EAST list.
 
The duo of Shay and junior Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) ranks third and fourth on the BIG EAST performance list in the 800 meters following Saturday's action. Shay ran in her first collegiate track race after a strong cross country season in the Fall, posting a time of 2:11.60 in the 800 meters which was just two-tenths of a second off her personal best. Trusty had a time of 2:13.14 and sophomore Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) came in with a mark of 2:15.61 in her first race of the season.
 
Elsewhere on the track, senior Alex Stasichin (Massapequa, N.Y.) registered a PR of 58.00 in the 400 meters. She later combined with Shay, Robinson and Walsh for a time of 4:00.23 in the 4x400 meter relay which closed out the night.
 
Saturday marked the season debut for throwers Payne and senior Faith Haught (Payson, Ariz.) who each competed in the weight throw. Payne advanced from the second flight into the final and wound up eighth on the day with a mark of 16.76 meters. That distance is fourth in the BIG EAST this season and is tied for the 10^th-longest throw in school history. Payne ranks second in the Wildcats record book with a PR of 19.00 meters set last season. She now accounts for five of the 11 longest throws in school history after Saturday's performance. Haught's best throw in Saturday's action was for 14.05 meters on her third attempt.
 
Villanova returns to action this coming Friday and Saturday (January 31-February 1) to compete in the Penn State National Open.