VU Men Dominate Main Line Invitational as Cross Season Begins

The 17th-ranked (#2 in region) Villanova cross country men competed Thursday at the Main Line Invitational at Haverford. Coach O'Sullivan remarked that "I think this is the best we have ever done at this meet. We are usually struggling to get one or two guys to break 20 minutes and we had our top three all break 19:40 today. It was a humid day and I was extremely happy to see how our guys did today. This is the type of start that I look for as a coach, something that we can use to set the tone for the entire season." Villanova's top 5 finishers (including McEntee) this year averaged 19:37, while the top 5 Villanova finishers last year averaged 19:58. In addition, anticipated top-7 runners Ryan Sheridan, Keith Capecci, and Matt Gibney were held out of yesterday's meet, making the prospect of a very talented and deep squad this year all the more likely.

Led by the winning performance of Brian Long (who ran the four-mile course in 19:34, a full 63 seconds faster than he ran at last year's Main Line Invitational), Villanova's men (some of whom ran unattached - UA) went as follows (with comparisons to their times at the Main Line Invitational Invite from previous years):

Men's 4 Mile Run CC

   Name                     2011         2010        2009        2008     
1.  Brian Long             19:34.60    20:37.04    --            --        
2.  Mathew Mildenhall      19:35.73    19:54.45    19:51.17      --
3.  Sam McEntee (UA)       19:35.91    --          --            -- 
4.  Greg Morrin            19:37.72    20:16.93    20:24.93      --
5.  Joe LoRusso            19:41.39    20:13.53    20:11.69      20:19.81
7.  Matt Kane              19:43.03    19:53.37    20:07.61      20:37.14
11. John Pickhaver         20:02.20    20:21.35    20:52.39      --
13. Alex Tully             20:04.50    --          20:37.14      --
15. Brian Basili           20:06.85    20:54.56    --            --
18. Chris O'Sullivan       20:24.40    20:46.73    --            --
19. Rob Denault (UA)       20:26.25    --          --            --
21. Dusty Solis            20:31.61    20:37.30    --            --
22. Tom Trainer (UA)       20:33.79    --          --            --
23. Robert Hurlbut (UA)    20:35.70    --          --            --
27. Dan Norman             20:44.96    --          --            --
28. Brian Tetreault        20:46.10    20:47.13    20:56.06      20:38.24
30. Chris Pietrocarlo      20:55.92    21:15.22    --            --
41. John Castillo (UA)     21:23.11    --          --            --
42. Chris FitzSimons (UA)  21:23.48    21:43.27    --            --
44. Joe Capecci (UA)       21:31.37    22:25.94    22:42.28      22:36.14
46. Charles Bates (UA)     21:41.11    --          --            --
58. Phil O'Connell         22:14.56    21:50.79    22:40.44      --
63. Richie Bohny           22:45.37    --          --            --

Photos by Tony DeSabato


For complete results of the men's race, click the title of this post