On Nov. 22, Villanova women’s cross country had its best NCAA National Championships finish since 2019 at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, MI, while the men had two individual runners.
The entire women’s team made their first-career appearance at the NCAA Championships, finishing 25th out of 32 teams. Villanova’s scoring five were separated by a narrow 46 seconds. As for the men, sophomore Charlie Moore and junior CJ Sullivan were the two individual representatives, finishing side-by-side on the 10,000-meter course.
“Early on, we were hit with the blow of Sadie [Sigfstead], All-American,’ women’s head coach Gina Procaccio said. “But the goal since the beginning season was: let’s get to nationals. It was gonna be a little bit harder without her. The team didn’t, they didn’t back down, and they just really came together as a group. The thing I am most proud about how consistent they were [this season].”
Junior Tilly O’Connor led the women’s team of seven on the 6,000-meter course. She finished in 78th with a time of 19:45.6, marking her fifth-consecutive finish under 20 minutes this season. She shaved nearly 10 seconds off her pre-nationals times of 19:55.7 on the same course back in October.
“She’s a big reason why we were able to have the success we’ve had,” Procaccio said. “Tilly did not even make the top seven last year, and that was a team that wasn’t as strong as this one. So she’s made such a big jump. I think her doing that showed others that those kinds of things can happen. You can get really good if you just stick with it and compete consistently.”
Villanova’s second-best performance came from graduate Nikki Vanasse. Coming off a personal best at Mid-Atlantic Regionals last week, she crossed the line 128th overall in 20:06.2.
Second behind her was graduate Margaret Carroll, finishing in a time of 20:10.9 to place 142nd. Carroll also collected a personal 6K-best of 19:38.3 at the Paul Short Run in October.
“I know if [Caroll] came back for this fifth year specifically for cross country,” Proaccio said. “She really wanted to help the team get to Nationals because she had never been there with the team. She just worked very hard this summer and got herself to a new level.”
The scoring five was rounded out by sophomore Rosie Shay with a time of 20:23.2, while senior Amelia Arrieta finished in 20:31.5. The two placed 168th and 193rd, respectively.
Freshman Zoe Mosher and freshman Maeve Smith were the final two of Villanova’s seven who raced. They crossed the finish line with times of 20:49.2 and 21:21.5, respectively.
The two men who attended nationals as individual runners, Moore and Sullivan, allowed men’s cross country to extend its streak of either sending a team or individual qualifiers to nationals to 19 straight seasons.
The growth that took place, in terms of trying to change things around and also to get them to believe in themselves, was a great part of the season,” men’s head coach Marcus O’Sullivan said. “That part was very rewarding to see them turn it around and come back and not go completely the other way and fall apart. There was a lot of good stuff that was taking place individually and collectively for a young team.”
Moore was the men’s only automatic qualifier. He crossed the finish line 120th overall with a time of 29:45.8 in his first-ever appearance at nationals.
“Charlie, he’s just so young,” O’Sullivan said. “This is his first cross country season because he hasn’t even been here a full year yet. He came in the wintertime last year, middle of the winter. He’s talented. I think there’s some good upside, but there’s some good growth that needs to take place for him to get to the next level, which I think he can.”
Sullivan, who grabbed the final at-large spot for nationals, crossed the finish line with a time of 29:47.1, finishing 126th overall. The finish was nearly eight seconds faster than the two times that he recorded at regionals and nationals last season, when he ran the 10K distances for the first time collegiately.
“[Sullivan] has come a long way,” O’Sullivan said. “I was so happy for him to make it because he got in on an at-large bid….He was so deserving because he’s such a good guy, he trains hard and he’s come a long way over the last couple of years.”
With the cross country season concluded, Villanova now moves into the indoor track and field season. Villanova senior standout Marco Langon, who redshirted the cross country season, will return for the Wildcats. He currently holds the second-fastest 1,500-meter time in collegiate history. Graduate Sadie Sigfstead will return for the women after missing the cross country season due to injury.
The women will send their top five early Boston meet on Dec. 6 in hopes of registering qualifying times for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships.
For the men, Langon will make his debut, as well as sophomore Ben Thomas (3K) and sophomore Jack Fenlon (3K).
