STORRS, Conn.—Two events and two podium finishes made for a successful start for Villanova on the opening day of the 2025 BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP. Senior thrower Alex Payne (Silverdale, Wash.) was the silver medalist in women's hammer and senior distance runner Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) earned bronze in the 10,000 meters at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex.
 
The trio of Payne, Carroll and junior Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) combined to score 17 points for the Wildcats in Thursday's events. Payne's runner-up finish matches the best ever by a Villanova athlete in women's hammer, while Carroll earned her first career All-BIG EAST honor in an individual track event. Their events were the first two out of 22 total this weekend to be scored.
 
There are 48 Wildcats competing at the conference championships this weekend and it was Payne who was up first. She threw 53.87 meters in the hammer to notch the seventh-longest throw in school history and her third top 10 mark in the program record book. The distance came on her third attempt in the trial round as Payne threw 52.80 meters or better on all three of her measured attempts for the day.
 
Payne joins Melinda Boykin (2002) and Sade Meeks (2022) as the only Villanova athletes to be silver medalists in women's hammer. Boykin was the school record holder for 20 years before being passed by Meeks. Payne remains fourth on the Wildcats all-time performance list after Thursday's competition. Each of the trio owns three marks on the program's top 10 list.
 
Thursday night concluded with terrific races from Carroll and Arrieta in the 10,000 meters. Both runners made their collegiate debuts in the 10K at last year's BIG EAST meet and had not run the event since then. The field of 14 runners strung out quickly and Carroll got off to a strong start in the early laps of the race. She wound up being in third place for the entirety of the race and crossed the finish line with a time of 34:17.69.
 
Carroll improved significantly from her time of 35:15.53 in last year's race and she moves onto the Villanova top 10 with tonight's time, coming in at seventh place on the program's all-time list. The time of 34:17.69 puts Carroll on the cusp of a qualifying time for the NCAA East Preliminary meet later this month. She would tentatively rank 52^nd on the East region descending order depending on other results of conference championship meets being held this weekend. Carroll is one of two BIG EAST athletes who are doubling this weekend in the women's 10K and 5K.
 
It was also a strong and steady race for Arrieta on Thursday night as she finished sixth with a time of 35:43.89. Arrieta owns three career sixth place BIG EAST finishes, including the 10K in each of the last two seasons along with the indoor 5,000 meters earlier this year.
 
Villanova continues competition on Friday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. with the preliminary heats of the 1500 meters. The 2025 BIG EAST Track and Field Championships presented by JEEP run through Saturday afternoon and can be viewed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports.