Lipari Blast Leads Villanova to 7th at Pre-Nationals

Running what was clearly her best cross country race as a Villanova Wildcat, Emily Lipari's 7th place overall finish led the Villanova women to a team 7th place finish this morning at cross country Pre-Nationals in Louisville. She finished only 3 seconds behind perennial top 5 nationals finisher Jordan Hasay of Oregon. Nicky Akande was the second Villanova runner, in a strong 26th place overall over the 6K course. Summer Cook, who spent her first years at Villanova on the swim team, continued her steady climb on the team, finishing a fine 41st overall.

Villanova competed well with a number of ranked teams, tying #18 Colorado, and beating #25 Butler by 52 places. #1 Florida State won the meet, with #4 Oregon a close second. Unlike the Villanova men, no Villanova women ran in the black race.

Villanova Finishers

  7.  Emily Lipari         20:06.9    5:24
 26.  Nicky Akande         20:36.1    5:32 
 41.  Summer Cook          20:57.2    5:38
 99.  Megan Venables       21:34.4    5:48
100.  Stephanie Schappert  21:35.9    5:48
155.  Courtney Chapman     21:58.8    5:54
165.  Meghan Smith         22:07.3    5:56

Top-Ten Team Scores

 1.   72   Florida State   4   6    14    17    31    (63)   (91)
 2.   87   Oregon          3   5    18    27    34    (42)   (52)
 3.  141   Michigan       10  25    32    35    39    (56)   (77)
 4.  163   Georgetown     22  30    33    38    40    (51)  (119)
 5.  184   Texas           9  16    47    53    59   (108)  (176)
 6.  266   Wm & Mary      19  20    71    72    84    (86)  (128)
 7.  273   Colorado       21  37    55    66    94   (105)  (113)
 7.  273   Villanova       7  26    41    99   100   (155)  (165)
 9.  308   Florida        24  49    61    73   101   (138)  (197)
10.  320   UC Davis       12  29    68   104   107   (144)  (168)