PRINCETON, N.J.—Three finishers in the top nine powered Villanova to an impressive first place team result at the Princeton Fall Classic on Friday morning. In a race that featured the top teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region and a strong field of 22 schools overall, the Wildcats scored 70 team points and had a spread of just over a minute separating their five scoring runners.
 
Villanova finished ahead of Georgetown (87), Princeton (92) and North Carolina (106) in a matchup of four teams who are all ranked in the most recent national poll released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Friday's meet was the last full team competition for the Wildcats before the BIG EAST Championships next month and leaves the team in excellent shape heading into the postseason schedule.
 
The trio of fifth year collegian Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.), junior Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) and redshirt freshman Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia) finished in the top nine out of 234 competitors. They crossed the finish line within 30 seconds of each other, led by Murphy as the individual runner-up with a time of 22:36.8 over 8,000 meters on the Meadows Campus Course. Langon finished fourth in 22:42.4 and Habler placed ninth with a time of 23:06.5.
 
Right from the outset a good race developed between the top teams. Official splits on the live results showed the lead in the team race changing hands several times between Villanova and Princeton. Just before the halfway mark of the race the Wildcats held a slim lead over the Tigers (58-62), while 800 meters later Princeton had gone back in front by nearly as small a margin (70-75).
 
It was a true team performance for Villanova, with Habler continuing his strong season by finishing ahead of the second runners from both Georgetown and Princeton. Redshirt freshman CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.) and senior Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) were the fourth and fifth scorers in the Villanova lineup. Sullivan was 24^th overall and recorded a time of 23:24.3, while Donoghue was 32nd in 23:38.9.
 
Friday's competition was the first in three weeks for the Wildcats, who last ran at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational last month. Villanova was ranked 19^th in the most recent national poll.
 
Freshman Jack Coomber (Brisbane, Australia) and senior Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) rounded out the Wildcats top seven and also finished in the top third of the field. Coomber came in 46^th with a time of 23:47.3 and Comber placed 65^th in 24:03.2. The rest of the Villanova lineup included redshirt freshman Nick Sullivan (Middletown, N.J.) with a time of 24:33.7, while redshirt freshman Kai Mitchell-Reiss (Portland, Ore.) had a time of 24:41.5 and freshman Jack Fenlon (Laois, Ireland finished with a time of 25:43.7.
 
Next up for the Wildcats will be preparing for the BIG EAST Championships on Friday, November 1. The conference meet moves to a new location this year at Morven Park in Leesburg, Va., with the men's race at the championships scheduled to begin at 11:50 a.m.