PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—In the first Championship of America relay of the weekend, the lineup of fifth year Lizzie Martell (Essex Junction, Vt.), sophomore Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas), junior Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) and first year Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.) placed sixth in the women's distance medley relay with a time of 11:10.82 at Franklin Field on Friday afternoon. It was the first race in a Villanova singlet at the world's oldest and largest track & field competition for Martell and Shay, who bookended the relay on the leadoff and anchor legs.
 
The race was a consistent one from the start and Martell led off with a split of 3:23.57 on the opening 1200 meter leg. A lead pack of five teams formed near the end of that leadoff leg and Martell led the chase pack at the first exchange. The trio of Allen, Trusty and Shay maintained that spot for the duration of the race, with Shay closing strong to hold off a runner from Cornell who was on her heels for nearly all of the 1600 meter anchor leg.
 
Allen continued a strong weekend with a split of 54.62 over 400 meters on the second leg of the relay. It was four-tenths of a second faster than she ran on the same leg as a collegiate rookie last season and comes on the heels of a personal best performance of 59.45 in the 400 meter hurdles on Thursday evening. The third leg of the race started out fast and Trusty split 62 seconds on her first lap. She wound up posting a time of 2:09.26 over 800 meters and held Villanova's spot at the front of the chase pack.
 
The final exchange saw Trusty hand the baton off to Shay, who became the Wildcats first collegiate rookie to anchor the Championship of America distance medley relay since Villanova Hall of Famer Marina Muncan did so in 2003. Shay recorded a split of 4:43.39 over 1600 meters, the latest outing in a 2025 campaign that has already seen her PR in the 1500 meters, mile and 3000 meters since the start of the indoor season earlier in the year.
 
Villanova had three more events on the schedule later on Friday, including sophomore sprinter Ajanae Thompson (Rahway, N.J.) running the heats of the 100 meter hurdles along with a pair of field events featuring seniors Taylor Woodeshick (Nescopeck, Pa.) and Faith Haught (Payson, Ariz.) in the high jump and discus, respectively. A full recap will be posted on Friday night.