Recap | Photo Gallery

Villanova head coach Marcus O'Sullivanââ'¬Â¦

On Patrick Tiernan being a four-time BIG EAST champion: It is amazing actually, and it has all happened so fast. Four years are gone and you take the whole thing for granted in many ways. Today it is almost like a revelation for me for the first time. Everything is moving so fast but when somebody stops to remind you of what they're accomplishing and what they're doing you start to appreciate it. It is a unique accomplishment what Pat has done.

On Tiernan's dominance in a race: That is part of the thing with Pat ââ'¬" it looks easy. He makes it look like it is perfunctory and it isn't. I have seen how hard it is to win some of these things and you realize that Pat is just that good obviously. You start to see how good he is when he wins these races.

On Andrew Marston and Casey Comber finishing in the top 10: They had an excellence race today. I was thinking if they could finish top 10 it would be awesome. They were coming into the straightaway and I was telling them where they were. I wanted Casey to finish top 10 and he got one of the other athletes in the straightaway to get 10th. Andrew moved up a notch to be seventh.

On the group of redshirt freshmen that has made contributions to the team this season: They are a terrific bunch of guys we have now. Not it's just about shaping them and growing them. They can see it and they know what parts are missing. We've talked about it but they're a unique bunch of individuals and I really enjoy coaching them.

On the team's fourth place finish: We just dropped off after the top three. The boys are trying but we don't have the depth from 3-6 to cover the teams we have in the past. This was expected. You could see it coming a few years ago that we would have to rebuild. We have some great freshmen redshirting this year and a very strong team going forward.

On the team's outlook for the NCAA regional meet in two weeks: We need to get Kevin Corbusier back but I think we will be in it with a shot [to finish top two and get an NCAA berth]. We still have to contend with Penn and Princeton, and Penn State. Nevertheless we will still be in it with a shot because you don't know how it is going to pan out.

Senior Patrick Tiernanââ'¬Â¦

On the race: It was great. Marcus was telling me before to go out there and sit in, relax, and then make a move towards the last 2K of the race. That's what we did today. It was good. [The course] was hard. It was nice going through the back trails there and being on your own for a little bit. It is also nice because there's not many opportunities for people to pass you down there once it gets skinny. I loved it. That was a big, tough hill at the end there and that is where I made my move.

On being the first athlete to win four straight BIG EAST cross country titles: I feel like I come into every race with a mentality that I'm going to try and win it. I grew up with that and my parents instilled in me that anything you try to do, try to do it the best you can. I think winning [the BIG EAST title] my first year sort of set a platform for me and I didn't want to let up from there.