Villanova Women Shock #4 Georgetown to Win XC RegionalLipari & Akande Hand-in-Hand for 1-2 Finish

Emily Lipari and Nicky Akande at the front at the Mid-Atlantic Regional

Disrespected in the polls after a poor showing at Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, the Villanova women reasserted themselves today at Lehigh by winning the NCAA Cross Country Mid-Atlantic Regional over #4 Georgetown, #22 Princeton, #24 West Virginia, and #30 Penn State.  Running its best race of the season when it counted, Villanova defeated its rivals thanks in large part to a dead-heat hand-in-hand 1-2 finish from seniors Emily Lipari and Nicky Akande.  Angel Piccarillo was 4th, Stephanie Schappert 8th, and Sydney Harris -- chanelling Alex Tully's clutch 2012 Regionals performance -- completed the scoring with a key 16th place finish to seal the win.  Frosh Julie Williams and Caitlin Bungo rounded out the top 7, in 27th and 74th place, respectively.  The Villanova women -- seemingly impacted by the heat at Pre-Nationals -- took advantage of crisp 56 degree temperatures today to take 4 of the top 8 spots in the race.  Villanova's #5 Sydney Harris ran 1:01 faster today on this course than she did on it for the Paul Short Run earlier this year, providing the final coup de grace to Villanova's competitors.

Coach Gina Procaccio commented after the race, where for the first time in several races the team ran at full strength: "There are a lot of talented girls on the team. Their training and hard work demonstrated to me what they were capable of and winning today is a result of that. When you run as if you don’t have a choice but to win, that makes it easier to get it done."

Emily Lipari (l) and Nicky Akande (r) went 1-2 at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional

 Villanova Women
      
 1  Emily Lipari, Sr           19:53    5:21     
 2  Nicky Akande, Sr           19:53    5:21     
 4  Angel Piccirillo, Fr       20:10    5:25     
 8  Stephanie Schappert, Jr    20:17    5:27    
16  Sydney Harris, So          20:35    5:32    
27  Julie Williams, Fr         20:55    5:37    
74  Caitlin Bungo, Fr          21:47    5:51  
Total Time = 1:40:48     Total Places = 31

Alone at the finish: Villanova seniors Akande & Lipari lead team to the NCAA Regional title

 The team competition went as follows:

  Team                 Pl    1    2    3    4   5    6    7     Avg      Spread

  1 Villanova          31    1    2    4    8   16   27   74    20:10    0:42
  2 Georgetown         35    3    6    7    9   10   11   15    20:16    0:12
  3 Penn State         92   12   14   18   19   29   32   80    20:40    0:40
  4 West Virginia     124   21   22   25   26   30   61   63    20:55    0:17
  5 Princeton         135    5   13   36   38   43   49   70    20:54    1:11
The full results are HERE