CHICAGO, Ill.—The first ever Villanova champion in women's weight throw and a gutsy finish to the women's distance medley relay which led to a silver medal highlighted the Wildcats results from the first day of competition at the 2025 BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP. Villanova amassed 21 total points from the weight throw, 5000 meters and DMR to stand in third place going into Saturday's final day of action at Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park. The first six events out of 18 in the meet program were contested on Friday afternoon.
 
Senior thrower Alex Payne (Silverdale, Wash.) recorded a lifetime best of 19.18 meters in the weight throw and ascended to the top of a BIG EAST awards podium for the first time in her career. She notched the third longest throw in school history and now owns three of the six best marks (as well as eight of the top 13) in the Wildcats record book. Last season she was just the second Villanova athlete to make the awards podium in her signature indoor event; this season she is the first to stand atop the podium in weight throw.
 
The weight throw was the first scored event the Wildcats competed in this weekend and Payne spoke of wanting to set a tone for team success. She foretold exactly that, as junior distance runner Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) registered a personal best time of 16:51.09 while finishing sixth in the 5000 meters in Friday's final individual track event. That race was followed by the distance medley relay in which the lineup of first year Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.), junior Myonica Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill.), sophomore Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) and senior Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) earned a silver medal with a time of 11:24.25.
 
Villanova qualified eight runners for the final of their respective events in preliminary heats which were held earlier in the day. It was an overall strong showing for the team, particularly in the mile where the quartet of senior Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.), sixth year Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.), first year Bella Walsh (Wilmington, Del.) and senior Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) all moved on from their heats. Later in the afternoon, senior Alex Stasichin (Massapequa, N.Y.) was an automatic qualifier for the final of the 800 meters.
 
In the sprints, sophomore Ajanae Thompson (Mahwah, N.J.) is the second-fastest qualifier for the final of the 60 meter hurdles after she won her preliminary heat. The duo of sophomore Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas) and junior Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) each advanced in the 400 meters, with Allen the fifth fastest qualifier after producing her third PR of this indoor season.
 
The eight runners who advanced out of the prelims make up part of the slate for what will be a full day of action on Saturday. Also on the Wildcats docket is competition in the 3000 meters and the final two relays of the meet – the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay. Villanova also has entries in all three field events that will be contested on Saturday, notably including defending champion Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) in high jump and Payne coming back for shot put.
 
Saturday's action gets underway at 11 a.m. and can be seen live on BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports Presented by Invesco QQQ.