Complete Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.--Redshirt freshmen Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.) and Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.) combined to be the top two Villanova finishers for the third straight meet this season, and the Wildcats finished fifth in a strong field of teams at the Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday morning. Marston and Comber each tallied top-20 finishes in a race that included runners from 18 Division I teams at Agri Park on the Arkansas campus.

Leading the way for Villanova was Marston, who came in fifth with a time of 23:50.5. Comber followed in 17th place with a time of 24:24.2 and senior Kevin Corbusier (Monkton, Md.) was 30th in 24:54.2. The other two scoring runners for the Wildcats were sophomore Elliot Slade (Cardiff, United Kingdom) in 41st place (25:20.6) and redshirt freshman Paul Power (Phoenixville, Pa.) in 56th (25:33.8). The three redshirt freshmen that competed for Villanova all recorded personal best time for an 8,000 meter course.

The team result was a positive one for a young Wildcats team which has already shown steady progress this season. Villanova opened the 2016 campaign at the Big Five Invitational and also ran at the Main Line Invitational before Saturday morning's meet in Arkansas.

The host Razorbacks won the Division I team title with 32 points and also produced the individual champion in Alex George, who finished with a winning time of 23:33.2. Missouri and Wichita State tied for second place in the team standings with 115 points apiece, while Texas Tech was fourth (132) and the Wildcats fifth (149).

Sophomore Colin O'Mara (Little Rock, Ark.) competed in his home state for the first time as a collegian and registered a time of 25:46.2 to finish sixth in the Villanova lineup. Sophomore Zach Swenson (Boulder, Colo.) rounded out the lineup with a time of 26:04.6, while juniors Drake Johnston (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Ben Malone (River Vale, N.J.) registered times of 26:13.6 and 26:32.1, respectively.

Next up on the Wildcats schedule is the Penn State National meet on October 14.

TEAM SCORES (Top 10)

Arkansas                      1st of 18                   32Missouri                      tie-2nd                     115Wichita State                 tie-2nd                     115Texas Tech                    4th                         132Villanova                     5th                         149Samford                       6th                         161Boston College                7th                         192North Texas                   8th                         245Louisiana-Lafayette           9th                         251Santa Clara                   10th                        271

COMPLETE VILLANOVA RESULTS

Andrew Marston                7th of 583                  23:50.5Casey Comber                  26th                        24:24.2Kevin Corbusier               60th                        24:54.2Elliot Slade                  91st                        25:20.6Paul Power                    123rd                       25:33.8Colin O'Mara                  144th                       25:46.2Zach Swenson                  185th                       26:04.6Drake Johnston                206th                       26:13.6Ben Malone                    251st                       26:32.1