It was a weekend of mixed results for the Villanova Wildcat’s cross country track team at the Pre-NCAA tournament. The team participated in the Blue race which was held at the Laverne Gibson Championship course at pre-nationals. The event was hosted by Indiana State University-Terry Haute.

First was the women’s team which finished in 15th place out of 35 teams in the Blue race. The women were paced by the performance of sophomore Frances Koons, who finished 26th in a field of 232 runners. She finished the 6000m course in 20:52, with senior Marina Muncan finishing one second behind her to take 27th place. Other Villanova participants in the women’s field included Zita Mezei, Akilah Vargas, Bridget Akard, Ellen Dougherty and Casey Nelson.

The Stanford Cardinals won the race with a total of 86 points. Victoria Mitchell of Butler College paced the women finishing the race in 20:01.

The men’s cross country team did not fair as well at the pre-nationals. They finished in 26th place out of 33 teams in the 8000m Blue race. Steve Cornell was Villanova’s top participant finishing in a time of 25:04 to take 100th place in the event. The only other Villanova student-athletes to finish in the top half of the field were Richard Corcoran and Samuel Pawluk, finishing in 111th and 114th place respectively. Other Villanova participants included Craig Segal, Steve Curley, and Andrew Blaich.

Just as they did on the women’s side the Stanford Cardinals won the Blue race on the men’s side with a total of 89 points. The individual crown went to Josh Rohatinsky of Brigham Young University who paced the field with a time of 23:30.

The cross country season continues for the Wildcats on Friday when they head to Haverford Pennsylvania to take part in the Main Line Invitational.