TERRE HAUTE, Ind.—Racing with the youngest team in the field of 31 schools at the NCAA Championships, Villanova came in 24
th in a satisfying finish to the cross country season at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course on Saturday morning. Sophomore
Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) was in All-America position with a 29
th place overall finish and the Wildcats were one of just two women's teams with at least four freshmen on the starting line at the championship meet.
Villanova earned a team berth to the NCAA meet for the 11
th time in the last 12 years and the 31
st time overall. The accomplishment of making it to nationals was impressive for a team which was mostly untested at the national level. Fifth-year senior
Ann Campbell (Mission Hills, Kan.) had two previous races at the NCAA Championships and Olivere experienced the meet as a freshman last year, but each of the other five runners in the Wildcats lineup were running in the championship's unique setting for the first time.
Olivere covered the 6,000 meter course in 20:39.9 in wet and cool conditions. She moved up 129 spots from where she finished a year ago, while Campbell surged 54 spots from her highest previous NCAA standing. Campbell came in 111
th overall with a time of 21:19.4, with freshman
Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.) not far behind her in 141
st place (21:33.2). Fellow rookie
Brynne Sumner (Canton, Ga.) was Villanova's fourth scoring runner (22:05.9) and senior
McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) placed fifth in the lineup in 22:41.8.
"It is so different," Campbell said of the field of 254 runners who competed in the championship race. "At BIG EAST and regionals you go out and we're in front but at nationals you're going to go out and be surrounded by so many people. It's completely different and you just have to stay focused. That is what we tried to do this week, keep to our routine and focus on it being nationals."
Two other freshmen rounded out the Wildcats lineup, as first-year collegians
Nikki Merrill (Portsmouth, R.I.) and
Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) posted times of 22:42.7 and 22:43.8, respectively. Villanova was the only women's or men's team at the meet to run four true freshmen in its lineup of seven runners. One other women's team, Indiana, had five first-year runners in the lineup but three redshirt freshmen among them. On the men's side, Northern Arizona had two true freshmen and two redshirts in its lineup.
Olivere will earn her first career All-America accolade when those honors are officially announced next week. She will be the Wildcats 57
th All-American in cross country and the third in the last four years. Olivere previously won the BIG EAST and NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional individual titles this season. She was named the Mid-Atlantic Region Women's Athlete of the Year in the days leading up to the national championships.
"It's interesting because [running] seems like an individual sport but in the bigger sense it is such a team sport," Olivere said. "You feel like you're always running for something bigger than yourself. That's been a huge part of me doing this sport. It is a small world but I feel like it's very interconnected and everyone knows a lot of people which is great. You're constantly seeing families and people that are rooting for you."
Villanova came in second at both the BIG EAST Championships and the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional this season, with the latter finish securing an automatic bid to the national meet. Just eight women's programs have appeared at the NCAA Championships at least 31 times in the meet's 39-year history. Former two-time NCAA champion and three-time cross country All-American Sheila Reid, who was a part of the Wildcats national titles in 2009 and 2010, was on hand serving as a color commentator on the FloTrack live broadcast.
