BOSTON, Mass.—Sophomore sprinter Olivia Allen (Kingwood, Texas) and senior distance runner Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) recorded their second PRs of the season in their respective events to highlight the Villanova results from the Eagle Elite Invitational hosted by Boston College on Friday afternoon. The day's slate included several Wildcats who are among the BIG EAST leaders this season in what was one of the final glimpses of regular season competition before the conference championships begin in Chicago later this month.
 
Allen is one of those standout performers for Villanova and she posted a PR of 55.80 in the 400 meters. That effort moves her into the BIG EAST top eight for the first time this year. She stands in fifth place on the conference descending order list after Friday and came within five hundredths of a second of making the Wildcats all-time top 10 indoor performance list. Allen remarkably lowered her top time by 1.2 seconds from the previous PR of 57.00 that she set at the Penn State National Open just two weeks ago.
 
Villanova showed the depth of its distance group on Friday with five runners competing in the 3000 meters and four more running the mile. Carroll tallied her second PR of the year in the 3000 meters with a time of 9:19.45, followed by senior Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) who crossed the finish line in 9:22.96 and first year collegian Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.)  who registered a mark of 9:24.35.
 
The trio now occupies sixth, seventh and eighth places on the BIG EAST performance list for the year. Not far behind them were sophomore Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) and junior Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) who recorded times of 9:37.10 and 9:49.20, respectively. In just the last week O'Connor has established new PRs in both the mile and the 3000 meters.
 
It has been a strong season for Wildcats newcomers Shay and Bella Walsh (Middletown, Del.), whose competitions have ranged from the 800 meters to the 3000 meters. Walsh led four Villanova runners in the mile on Friday with a season best time of 4:44.55. Senior Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) recorded a time of 4:48.38, while sixth year runner Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.) finished in 4:52.57 and junior Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.) had a time of 5:04.57.
 
Allen wasn't the only notable performer for the Wildcats in the sprint events. Sophomore Ajanae Thompson (Rahway, N.J.) finished third in the final of the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.53 and ran the 200 meters for the first time this year while posting a mark of 25.30. She was .01 off her season best time in the hurdles and is just .02 off the BIG EAST lead on the year. Juniors Myonica Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill.) and Micah Trusty (Philadelphia, Pa.) had times of 25.31 and 25.47 in the 200 meters, with Trusty also running the 400 meters earlier in the day and recording a time of 56.34.
 
Senior thrower Alex Payne (Silverdale, Wash.) continued her two-year run of success in the weight throw with a season best performance. Payne has competed in the event seven times since joining the Villanova roster last year and has tallied a top 10 mark in school history in all seven of those outings. Her mark of 17.36 meters on Friday is her season's best by three centimeters and slots in as the seventh best throw in the Wildcats record book. Payne accounts for seven of the 13 longest throws in school history over the past two years.
 
All three of Villanova's high jumpers were in action at the same competition for the first time this year. Fifth year competitor Roschell Clayton (Montego Bay, Jamaica) notched her third consecutive first place finish with a height of 1.76 meters, while sophomore Malaika Cunningham (St. Andrew, Jamaica) cleared the bar at 1.66 meters and senior Taylor Woodeshick (Nescopeck, Pa.) had a height of 1.56 meters.