PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The senior duo of Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) and Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) won their respective events as Villanova started the 2025 competition calendar on a high note with several strong performances at the Quaker Invitational on Saturday afternoon. McGill finished first in the mile and came back later in the day to tally a third place finish in the 1000 meters, while Robinson recorded a new personal best to win the 800 meters. There were eight, top four finishes overall for the Wildcats in their first full meet of the 2024-25 indoor season.
 
McGill and senior Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) combined for a 1-2 finish in the mile with times of 4:43.90 and 4:46.03, respectively. The time for Carroll was a three-second PR, while Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.) finished fifth in the race with a time of 4:53.42. Later in the afternoon, McGill posted a time of 2:50.39 and first year collegian Bella Walsh (Middletown, Del.) was close behind in 2:50.62 in her first Villanova track debut.
 
Robinson paced a field of 10 runners in the 800 meters with a time of 2:11.57. Her previous fastest time in an open 800 meter race was 2:12.93 and had been recorded outdoors in 2022; she had not run an indoor 800 meter race since her collegiate track debut at Columbia on February 5, 2022. Elsewhere in the middle distance events, junior Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) registered a personal best time of 1:14.81 in the 500 meters.
 
The final event of the day was the 4x400 meter relay in which two separate lineups competed in the same heat. Trusty anchored the 'A' squad and overtook a runner from Lehigh in the closing stretch as the Wildcats won the heat in 3:52.45. Junior Myonica Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill.) led off the race and was followed by the sophomore duo of Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas) and Caelen O'Leary (Taunton, Mass.) ahead of Trusty on the anchor leg.
 
Sophomore sprinter Ajanae Thompson (Rahway, N.J.) was the runner-up in the 60 meter hurdles. She ranked third out of 23 competitors with a time of 8.65 in the preliminary heats before moving up a spot and lowering her time to 8.54 in the final. Thompson is one of the up-and-coming performers in the Villanova sprint group and was a BIG EAST scorer in both the 60 meter hurdles and the 100 meter hurdles as a collegiate rookie last year.
 
Saturday's competition marked the collegiate debuts for several newcomers to the Wildcats roster this year, including hurdler Stephanie Ogunbiyi (Bronx, N.Y.) along with jumpers Emily Staerk (Phoenixville, Pa.) and Jenny Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Walsh ran her first collegiate track races after debuting for Villanova in cross country during the Fall.
 
The meet was also the Wildcats first look at The Ott Center, a brand new and state-of-the-art venue on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Villanova will be back at the facility next Saturday to face strong competition in the Penn 10 Elite meet.