By Mary Elizabeth Donovan

Staff Reporter

The men and women’s cross country teams hold high regional rankings with the U.S. Track and Field Coaches Association. The men rank No. 4 and the women No. 7 in the 2007 Division I Mid-Atlantic Region.

During the ’06 season, the men’s team fell just short of making the NCAA championships and placed third in the regional qualifiers. The ’07 cross country team will be led by senior Bobby Curtis, the 2004 NCAA champion, sophomore Daniel Lewis and several talented freshmen.

The women’s team grabbed the No. 7 position in the regional rankings and will be led this year by senior Akilah Vargas, junior Ellen Dougherty and sophomore Theresa Rush.

This past weekend at the Delaware Invitational at White Clay Creek State Park, the women’s team boasted seven of the top 10 runners. They managed 21 points and won the meet.

On a sadder note, women’s cross country star Frances Koons has to take a medical red shirt this year due to a recent diagnosis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney cancer. She is an All American and current Big East Champion. She will not resume intense training until January 2008.

Women’s Tennis: Hawk dies again as ‘Cats roll, 4-3

On Saturday, the ‘Cats had their first win of the season, sweeping the Manhattan Jaspers 7-0. Following its loss to California (Pa.) last week, the team came out strong, winning each of the five singles matches and both doubles matchups.

The Wildcats played host to their arch rivals, the St. Joseph’s Hawks, on Monday afternoon and claimed a big 4-3 victory. Villanova swept the doubles matches and picked up wins in the third and fourth singles matches to win its second consecutive matchup. Their record for this season is 2-1.

Men’s Tennis: Leeser, Farmer grab second place in doubles at Northeast Intercollegiate Invitational

The men’s tennis team started its season on Sept. 14, in Providence, R.I., at the Northeast Intercollegiate.

Singles: In Flight No. 1, freshman Dave Sheehan lost the first two matches. Men’s tennis had nobody in flight No. 2. In the No. 3 flight, freshman Trenton Alenik lost 1-6, 6-4, 6-10 to the fifth-place winner. Junior Brian Maher lost to the 13th-place winner 2-6, 1-6 in flight No. 4.

Doubles: In flight No. 1, Alenik and Shaheen lost their first two matches, eliminating them from the tournament. In flight No. 2, senior Dimitri Chimerakis and freshman John Drosick tied for ninth place out of 16 doubles pairs in the flight. In flight No. 3, Leeser and Farmer placed second in an 6-8 match against the University of Connecticut. Sophomore Brett Tobin and Maher grabbed fifth place in an 8-2 victory over Colgate in the No. 5 Flight.

Golf: ‘Nova places fifth at Rutgers Invitational

The golf team’s season began last Saturday at the Rutgers Invitational. Villanova tied for sixth place on the Rutgers golf course (par 71; 6,337 yards.) Junior Brett Bergman placed third out of the 91 golfers competing, seven strokes behind the leader. The Wildcats opened with scores of 295 and 293 on Friday in the 54-hole tournament and finished with 307 strokes on Saturday. They tied for sixth with Seton Hall with a total score of 895. They were one stroke behind the fifth-place team.

Bergman shot a 72 and a 69 in his first two rounds on Friday and finished with a 74 on Saturday, leaving him at +3 for the weekend. Juniors Doug Stadler and Andrew Alexander tied for 32nd place, and junior Bill Gropp placed 79th individually.

The next tournament on the Wildcats’ schedule is the Sea Trail Invitational at the Rees Jobes Course Sunset Beach, N.C., this weekend.