Head Coach Gina Procaccio’s women’s cross country team continued to carry the torch for the well-respected program in the fall of 2006. The team began the season at the Princeton Invitational where it placed third at Princeton’s new cross country course at the West Windsor Fields. At the Paul Short Invitational in Allentown, Pa., junior Frances Koons set the meet record to take first place at the event. Freshman Siobhan Coleman and senior Akilah Vargas also placed in the top 30 at the event.

Koons took her winning ways to the national stage, where she finished second in a Pre-NCAA 6K race. She then became Villanova’s first individual champion at a Big East championship event since 2000 by winning the 6K race in Boston, Mass. She became the school’s 11th Big East cross country champion. She continued to dominate her competition with a win at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional, where the team finished fifth overall. Vargas also helped the ‘Cats place high, finishing 14th.

Koons’ win at the regional meet earned her a trip to the NCAA championship meet. The Villanova standout finished 87th out of 253 runners at the meet in Terre Haute, Ind.

With most of its members returning for the ’07 campaign, there’s no reason to doubt that Villanova will be a major cross country contender.