MADISON, Wis.—As the 2022 season progresses Villanova is starting to get a glimpse of what it's potential can be. In a stacked field of teams at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational which featured 19 nationally-ranked squads, the Wildcats had a spread of less than 23 seconds between their five scoring runners and came in ninth overall out of 33 teams at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course on Friday afternoon. Leading the way for the Wildcats was the trio of senior Haftu Strintzos (Melbourne, Australia), sophomore Jack Jennings (Mendham, N.J.) and sophomore Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) who were separated by just 1.5 seconds at the line.
 
Strintzos made his season debut and gained steam down the stretch to pace the Villanova lineup with a 47^th place overall finish and a time of 23:45.5 on the 8,000 meter course. Jennings and Murphy were listed with identical times of 23:47.0 in 50^th and 51^st places, respectively. The other two scorers for the Wildcats were senior Charlie O'Donovan (Cork, Ireland) who finished 84^th (23:59.3) and first year Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) who came in 112^th (24:08.4). The gap between Strintzos and Langon was just 22.9 seconds and it marked the fourth time in as many meets this season that the top five Villanova finishers had less than 45 seconds between them.
 
Friday's race was the first time this season that the Wildcats had essentially their full lineup available. Beyond the five scoring runners, graduate Jack Fredian (Arlington Heights, Ill.) came in 149^th overall with a time of 24:23.0 and senior Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia) was 216^th (25:09.4). Five additional Villanova runners competed in the "B" race earlier in the day.
 
A strong start coming out of the box was important for the Wildcats given the crowded field and narrow course. O'Donovan, Murphy and Phillips got out well and ran at the front of a tight pack for the first 2,000 meters; by the time the race reached its midpoint it was Jennings who was pacing the Villanova lineup and hanging near the front of the pack. Strintzos moved up eight spots in the final quarter of the race to overtake the team lead.
 
Entering the meet, the Wildcats sat at No. 17 in the latest national top 30 poll released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) 10 days ago. The field of 33 teams in the men's championship race in Wisconsin included seven squads from the top 10 of that national poll and 19 teams in all out of the top 30. Villanova beat four teams ranked ahead of it in Friday's race, including Syracuse (No. 9), North Carolina (No. 10), Iowa State (No. 11) and Gonzaga (No. 14). Two other BIG EAST squads competed in Wisconsin, with Georgetown coming in 17^th in the team standings and Providence placing 25^th.
 
The day began with the "B" race in which the Wildcats had five runners in action. Redshirt first year competitor Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) led the group with a 22^nd place finish out of 139 runners and tallied a time of 24:34.1 in the 8K race. Graduate Evan Addison (Collegeville, Pa.) came in 43^rd (24:50.7) and was followed by graduate Ben Seiple (Westport, Conn.) who placed 53^rd (24:57.8), junior Sean Dolan (Ewing, N.J.) who finished 86^th (25:21.0) and graduate Henry Myers (Portand, Ore.) with a 109^th place finish (25:44.3).
 
Villanova will now turn its attention to preparing for the BIG EAST Championships later this month as well as the NCAA regional and national meets in November. The conference championships move to a new spot this season and will be held at Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass. on October 29.