PRINCETON, N.J.—The gap between the team's scoring runners was just 35 seconds and Villanova placed five runners in the top 20 overall to finish second as a team at the Princeton Invitational on Friday afternoon. Leading the way for the Wildcats was the junior duo of
Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.) and
Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.), who finished second and third in the field of more than 200 runners. The race for the team title was a close one, with the host Tigers edging Villanova by 10 points (37-47) at the top of a field of 20 teams.
Marston ran at the front of the pack for nearly the entire race and crossed the finish line with a time of 24:03.5 over 8000 meters. Comber was close behind him in 24:06.4, while the team's other scoring runners were freshman
Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia), junior
Paul Power (Phoenixville, Pa.) and junior
Rob Morro (Media, Pa.). Phillips has now been the number three runner for the Wildcats in each of his first two official collegiate races, while Power and Morro stepped up after finishing sixth and seventh in the team lineup at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational two weeks ago.
The field of 219 runners stayed closely packed for the first half of the race and there were 16 competitors within two seconds of the lead at the three-mile mark. That included Marston and Comber running 1-2 overall at that point, while both Villanova and Princeton had five runners in the top 16 to set up an exciting finish in the team race. Both the Wildcats and the Tigers wound up placing three runners in the top-10, with no other team having more than one such finisher.
Beyond the scoring runners for Villanova, sophomore
Martin Barr (Skokie, Ill.) came in 21
st with a time of 24:39.3 and freshman
Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) placed 32
nd in 24:52.5. Their finishes gave the Wildcats seven runners who crossed the finish line within a minute of each other. Fifth-year senior
Zach Swenson (Boulder, Colo.) recorded a time of 25:00.9, sophomore
Paul Nichols (Latham, N.Y.) finished in 25:18.9, sophomore
Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) had a time of 25:37.7 and junior
Logan Wetzel (Saline, Mich.) posted a time of 25:41.8.
Villanova returns to action on October 27 when it competes in the BIG EAST Championships at Northview Church in Carmel, Ind.
PRINCETON INVITATIONAL
October 12, 2018
West Windsor Fields / Princeton, N.J.
8000 Meters
| TEAM STANDINGS (TOP 5) |
| Princeton |
1st of 20 |
37 |
| Villanova |
2nd |
47 |
| Temple |
3rd |
107 |
| Connecticut |
4th |
127 |
| Columbia |
5th |
132 |
