Graduate Liam Murphy won his third-straight NCAA regional individual title, leading Villanova men’s cross country to a Mid-Atlantic Regional championship in University Park, Pennsylvania last Friday. Senior Sadie Sigfstead ran a school record 19:30.8 on a 6,000-meter course, finishing third individually. The women finished fifth as a team.
The men’s regional title is the team’s second in the last three years. The win gave the men an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championships, marking the third straight season the men have attended nationals.
Murphy entered regionals just two weeks after winning an individual Big East championship title. He ran a time of 29:22.8 over the 10,000-meter course, recording the ninth-fastest time in school history. He holds three of the top 10K times in school history.
“[Regionals] was a ‘prep up,’” head coach Marcus O’Sullivan said. “[Murphy] just really had his foot off the gas, except for that one surge.”
Junior Marco Langon recorded his personal best on a 10K cross country course. His personal best time of 29:32.1 was just behind Murphy’s time, allowing Langon to finish second.
The one-two finish from Murphy and Langon matched what Murphy did with former Wildcat Haftu Strintzos last season at regionals. With Langon early into his collegiate career, O’Sullivan recognizes how he handles running alongside a veteran like Murphy.
“To Langon’s credit, he doesn’t fall apart or anything like that,” O’Sullivan said. “He kind of steadily keeps his own and maintains his own pace for his own race, and still continues to hold everybody else on comfortably.”
All of Villanova’s scoring five earned All-Region honors. Redshirt freshman Bailey Habler recorded a top-10 placement, finishing ninth with a time of 29:48.7. He was one of the three Wildcats to finish in the top-10.
Rounding out the final two scoring spots were redshirt freshman CJ Sullivan and senior Devon Comber, finishing 13th and 25th, respectively.
Sullivan ran a 29:54.8 and Comber was behind him, finishing in 30:21.1.
Sullivan made an impressive move through the field, gaining 21 spots in the second half of the race and passing two runners in the last 1200 meters.
“I saw just a really good collective team performance,” O’Sullivan said. “And what I was really proud of is guys showing up on the day.”
The women fell short of a team bid to nationals, but Sigfstead’s strong race and third-place finish earned her an individual bid.
Sigfstead’s time of 19:30.8 marked her third top-10 career finish at regionals.
“I thought that was a big jump for [Sigfstead] at the regionals,” head coach Gina Procaccio said. “That was a great race for her, and I think she’s ready to get out there [at nationals] and run with the best runners in the country.”
Senior Emma McGill came in 14th overall with a time of 20:14.7 and graduate Nikki Vanasse ran a 20:40.2 to finish 25th.
The trio of Sigfstead, McGill and Vanasse all earned All-Region honors, marking the eighth time in the last nine seasons that Villanova has had at least three athletes earn the honors.
The final two scorers for the Wildcats were first-year collegiate Rosie Shay who came in 27th (20:41.7) and senior Margaret Carroll who finished 39th (21:01.8). Procaccio is impressed with what Shay can do at such a young collegiate career.
“[Shay] has made a big jump from high school and she was one of the top freshmen in the race as well,” Procaccio said. “I think [Shay] is just a very tough competitor. She has a lot of room to grow as well, so I think it’s going to be fun following her development over the next few years.”
The men and Sigfstead have a short turnaround to prepare for the NCAA National Championships in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, Nov. 23.
