Villanova Back in the Pack at NCAA Cross NationalsWomen Come 20th, Men 27th

Lipari earns All-American status with her 25th place finish

The Villanova men and women finished close to their national rankings at the NCAA cross country nationals yesterday: the #25 men finished in 27th place, while the #22 women came 20th. Neither team ran its best race of the year. For the men, the team's usual top two finishers (Sam McEntee and Jordy Williamsz) were the team's 3rd and 4th finishers. Topping the men's finishers were seniors Mathew Mildenhall (108th individually) and Matt Kane (145th individually). McEntee (150th) and Williamsz (161st) were next, and Rob Denault (166th) rounded out the top five. Alex Tully, on whose effort the Villanova men finished 2nd at Mid-Atlantic regionals, was unable to catch lightning in a bottle a second time. He came 198th, followed by Brian Basili in 234th place. As has been the case throughout the season, the men ran is a tight cluster, with a mere 26.7 seconds from 1-5. The good news for the men is that several key runners will return next year.

The full men's results are HERE.

Villanova Men 587 places

108/84    Mathew Mildenhall     30:50.0
145/116   Matthew Kane          31:04.6
150/120   Sam McEntee           31:06.6
161/131   Jordy Williamsz       31:12.8
166/137   Rob Denault           31:16.7
198/(153) Alex Tully            31:39.6
234/(197) Brian Basili          32:36.8

Splits

               2000     3215     4950     6910     5 mi     10K     
Mildenhall     5:49     9:24     14:47    20:56    24:35    30:50.0
Kane           5:57     9:38     15:08    21:12    24:57    31:04.6
McEntee        5:51     9:29     14:54    20:58    24:52    31:06.6
Williamsz      5:46     9:23     14:51    21:00    24:55    31:12.8
Denault        5:56     9:41     15:11    21:15    25:03    31:16.7
Tully          5:56     9:38     15:12    21:26    25:21    31:39.6
Basili         6:00     9:48     15:28    21:47    25:50    32:36.8

On the women's side, Emily Lipari put in the best performance of the day for either team, as she finished 25th overall, good for All American status. Lipari finished in 20:05.6, about 38 seconds off race winner Betsy Saina of Iowa State. Nicky Akande, who won the NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional a week ago, struggled on the day, finishing well back in 95th place overall, some 41 seconds behind Lipari. As she has done all year, Summer Cook was Villanova's no. 3 finisher, just 5 seconds in arrears of Akande. The women's 1-5 split was 1:13.6.

The full women's results are HERE.

Villanova Women 475 places

 25/18    Emily Lipari          20:05.6
 95/68    Nicky Akande          20:46.5
110/82    Summer Cook           20:51.7
173/136   Stephanie Schappert   21:19.2
209/171   Sydney Harris         21:34.1
219/(181) Megan Venables        21:40.9
240/(202) Courtney Chapman      22:04.5

Splits

              2000     3022     6K     
Lipari        6:27     9:53     20:05.6
Akande        6:34    10:06     20:46.5
Cook          6:39    10:12     20:51.7
Schappert     6:45    10:22     21:19.2
Harris        6:58    10:41     21:34.1
Venables      6:57    10:40     21:40.9
Chapman       6:49    10:37     22:04.5