Last Friday, the women’s cross country team went down the road to compete in the Main Line Invitational at Haverford College. The team swept the first four spots and had seven of the top eleven finishes overall in the three-mile run event. While both men’s and women’s cross country tend to compete together, only the women wound up competing on Friday. The men had “unattached” freshmen that are redshirting and had unofficial results.
The Main Line Invitational holds a lot of significance for Villanova and the other schools in the area. Head coach Gina Procaccio, who has been in her position for 22 years, signified the specialty of this Invitational.
“While the season has started, it is a pretty good rustbuster,” Procaccio said. “It is pretty low key and it just gives [the athletes] a chance to open up close to home and be with a lot of family and friends. It really revs them up for when the season starts.”
Procaccio has one philosophy that has never wavered over her tenure with Villanova: to keep the kids happy, relaxed and excited about racing. This meet is one that truly embodies that philosophy. Finding synergy between Procaccio’s philosophy and the nature of the Main Line Invitational may have been the recipe for the success found on Friday.
The star of the show on Friday was junior Sadie Sigfstead. Sigfstead placed first out of 74 competitors with a winning time of 16:00.5. Not only is this impressive in the stature of the event itself, but Sigfstead’s time set the record for the fastest time that any Villanovan has run on the Alumni Course at Haverford.
Procaccio spoke to Sigfstead before the match about her mindset going in.
“She told me right before the race that she wanted to break the record,” Procaccio said. “We saw her fitness and it’s the best it’s ever been at, so it was great that she was able to go out there by herself and execute a phenomenal race. She has big goals for the year so this definitely gives her the confidence she can accomplish these goals.”
Year after year, competing against similar schools such as Penn, La Salle, Haverford and more at the invitational, runners are able to compare their own times against runners from the past, or as Procaccio calls them, “greats that came before.”
The record that Sigfstead broke on Friday was previously set by Caroline Alcorta at the Main Line Invitational in 2018. That same season she went on to be the Big East individual champion and had a top three finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional.
While Sigfstead’s time stood out in the race, she was just one out of the four Villanova juniors that led in the field. Emma McGill placed second with a time of 16:14.0, Margaret Carroll placed third with a time of 17:11.5, and Emily Robinson placed fourth with a time of 17:19.7. McGill’s time falls in the same ranking as Sigfstead as being among the five fastest on Villanova’s performance list at the three-mile distance.
Other notable times at the meet include freshman Tilly O’Connor who placed eighth with a time of 17:25.2, sophomore Kinsey Pogue who placed tenth with a time of 17:34.8, senior Elizabeth Vaughn who placed eleventh with a time of 17.43.4, and sophomore Micah Trusty who came in 23rd with a time of 18:47.8.
Overall, Villanova finished far ahead in first in the team standings with 18 points, followed by Penn with 39 points and La Salle with 87. The team has their next meet on Sept. 29 when they travel to Franklin, Massachusetts to compete in Boston College’s “Battle in Beantown.”
