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LOUISVILLE, K.Y. - Junior Patrick Tiernan (Toowoomba, Australia) ran a gutsy race and placed 2nd individually at the NCAA Championships held on Saturday afternoon in Louisville, Ky. at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park. It marked the best individual finish for a Villanovan dating back to Donal Walsh's 2nd place finish in 1970.

Following today's result, Tiernan finished in the top-20 in the championship race for the third-straight year as the junior harrier led a trio of Wildcats who earned individual berths into the Championship.

"I'm so happy today; I gave it everything I had. I was spent at 7k which was way too early but you got to try some crazy things to try and win the NCAA Championships," said Tiernan.

The race went out at a blistering speed as Tiernan pushed the leaders to run true from the start. At the halfway point, Tiernan and Oregon's Edward Cheserek broke away from the pack and further pushed the pace as it became a two-man head-to-head race for the final 5000 meters. The duo passed through the 8k mark at 22:51 and put a gap of 23 seconds ahead of the field with 2000 meters to go. With just over a mile left to run, Cheserek made a move for the lead as he began to put space between him and Tiernan. Tiernan crossed the finish line for second place in a time of 29:11.1 behind Cheserek (28:45.8).

"I went into it thinking I'm going to have a chance to beat him," said Tiernan. "I gotta go out hard and try break him and that's what happened for three quarters of the race, but credit to him -- he beat me at my best game. I just tried to keep the pace going, you can't back off and let everyone else back into it. I just tried to keep it rolling and I think I did that pretty successfully. I was very proud of how I raced today."

Heading into today's race Tiernan and Tulsa's Marc Scott were the only two men in NCAA Division I cross country that were undefeated on the year. Tiernan claimed five individual races in this season at the Main Line Invitational, Paul Short Run, Princeton Invitational, BIG EAST Championship and Mid-Atlantic Regional leading up to today's race. His 2nd place finish today marks his best performance at the NCAA meet in his career after placing 18th in 2014 and 9th in 2013.

Following Tiernan's lead was the two-man finish of seniors Rob Denault (Aurora, Ont.) in 77th place (30:46.1) and Jordy Williamasz (Melbourne, Australia) in 214th place (32:17.1), respectively. The trio proved to be a strong group all season long and once again lived up to their reputation.

All three Villanovan's qualified for the championship event as a result of their performances at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. The Wildcats earned spots in the national meet by being among the top four finishers at the regional race who were not on a qualifying team for the championship. Denault and Williamsz have competed in every NCAA Championship meet dating back to the 2012 season as they ended their cross country eligibility for the Wildcats on a high note.

Cheserek won the individual national championship to become the first individual to win three-straight individual championships. Syracuse earned the team championship with 82 points and beat out Colorado (91) and the rest of the 31 team field.

Notes: Tiernan is the 37th Villanova All-American in cross country and just the third Wildcat to be a 3x All-American in the discipline (joining Louie Quintana and Donal Walsh)... Today's meet marked the conclusion of Williamsz and Denault's cross country careers; both have raced in every NCAA Championship meet throughout their eligibility... Today marked the fifth time since 2007 that Villanova has competed at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.