PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Villanova competed in the championship sections of all four of the events on its schedule at the 125^th Penn Relays on Saturday, with freshman high jumper Sanaä Barnes (Keller, Texas) coming in second in her event at Franklin Field to highlight the day's results.  An announced crowd of 48,195 packed Franklin Field for the final day of competition at the annual three-day carnival, and the total attendance for this year's Penn Relays surpassed 110,000.
 
The high jump was the first event for the Wildcats on Saturday, while the afternoon featured the Championship of America race in the 4x800 meter relay along with the collegiate finals of both the 100 meters and the 100 meter hurdles.  Villanova placed eighth in the 4x800 relay in its third race in as many days.  Junior sprinter Danielle Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.) came in seventh in the 100 meter hurdles and sophomore Trudy-Ann Williamson (Kingston, Jamaica) was ninth in the 100 meters. 
 
Barnes cleared a height of 1.82 meters in the high jump and can now add the outdoor school record to her resume to go along with the indoor and absolute record she set indoors.  She is the Wildcats first athlete to clear the bar at 1.80 meters or higher outdoors, as the previous outdoor Villanova record was 1.79 meters set by Samantha Yeats on May 12, 2013 at the ECAC Championship.  During the indoor season, Barnes twice broke the Wildcats absolute record and recorded a mark of 1.84 meters at the NCAA Championships.
 
Saturday's competition began with 11 athletes and wound up being decided on a 1-on-1 duel between Barnes and Anna Peyton Maliza of Penn.  The bar began at 1.70 meters and moved up four centimeters each time it was raised.  On a windy day with less than perfect conditions for vertical jumping, five of the 11 competitors were eliminated after the opening height.  Only five athletes moved on to the third height of 1.78 meters, with only Barnes and Malizia succeeding at that height. 
 
They each made it over on their first try at 1.78 meters, and then both succeeded on their first attempt at 1.82 meters.  The bar was then raised three centimeters to 1.85 meters, with Barnes and Malizia each missing on three approaches.  Barnes did make it over on one of her jumps, only to see the bar come down after just long enough of a pause to give the indication that it might stay put.  The deciding factor came down to Malizia having one less total miss than Barnes.  She cleared the bar on her first try at 1.74 meters, while Barnes needed two attempts at the second height of the day. 
 
The weekend overall was a good one for the Wildcats in terms of the number of championships it was in line to compete for.  Over the last 18 years, for which records were immediate available, the only years prior to this one that Villanova had an athlete qualify for the final of the 100 meter hurdles were in 2005, 2006 and 2010.  In the same span of tie, the Wildcats had not had any athletes reach the final of the 100 meters or compete in the championship section of the high jump.
 
Burns had a busy and highly successful Penn Relays, which included five races over three days.  She placed sixth in the championship section of the 400 meter hurdles on Thursday morning and ran in the preliminary heats of the 4x100 meter relay later that day.  On Friday, she raced again in the Eastern final of the 4x100 relay and later was back on the track for the preliminary heats of the 100 meter hurdles.  She closed the weekend with Saturday's final in the hurdles, and crossed the finish line in seventh place with a time of 13.76.
 
Williamson raced in the final of the 100 meters on Saturday after also being a part of the Villanova lineup for both 4x100 relays over the previous two days.  She came in ninth in the final of the 100 meters in 11.80 to conclude her weekend. 
 
In between the individual events, the Wildcats came in eighth in the 4x800 meter relay in 8:58.88.  Freshman Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.), senior Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.), junior Amari Onque-Shabazz (Plainfield, N.J.) and sophomore Rachel McArthur (Bristow, Va.) formed the Villanova lineup.  Olivere also led off the 4x1500 relay on Friday afternoon, while Hutchinson and McArthur were running for the third time in as many days.