MADISON, Wis.—The conference and regional champion Villanova men's cross country team has its sights set on the 2024 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships which take place in Madison, Wis. on Saturday morning. The men's 10K race begins at 11:10 a.m. Eastern time (10:10 a.m. CT) and will be televised live on ESPNU from the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. This is the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Wildcats have earned a team berth to the national championships.
 
Villanova won this year's BIG EAST and NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional titles for the second time in three years. All five of the Wildcats scoring runners earned both All-BIG EAST and Mid-Atlantic All-Region accolades, spurred by fifth year collegian Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) who was the individual champion of both meets. It is the first time since 2013 that Villanova has pulled off the quartet of sweeps of the BIG EAST Championships and NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional team and individual titles.
 
Murphy successfully defended his individual titles from last season at both the BIG EAST and Mid-Atlantic meets, while junior Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) was the runner-up to Murphy in each race. That matched the Wildcats feet from last season when Murphy and the now graduated Haftu Strintzos went 1-2 at the first two postseason meets. Langon earned his third career All-BIG EAST honor and second all-region accolade with his two recent performances.
 
The other scoring runners for Villanova over the last two meets have been redshirt freshman Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia), senior Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) and redshirt freshman CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.). Habler has come on strong in his first official collegiate season and tallied top-10 finishes at both the BIG EAST Championships (fourth) and Mid-Atlantic Regional (ninth). Comber finished 10^th at the BIG EAST meet to earn first team all-conference honors and tallied a 25^th place result two weeks later to garner the all-region nod. Sullivan placed 18^th at the BIG EAST Championships and 13^th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
 
At the Mid-Atlantic meet last week, redshirt freshman Nick Sullivan (Middletown, N.J.) and freshman Jack Coomber (Brisbane, Australia) rounded out the Villanova lineup finishing 40^th and 76^th, respectively, in a field of nearly 200 runners.
 
Villanova is making its 38^th team appearance at the NCAA Championships in cross country this season and is one of just 12 teams all-time with that many appearances. The Wildcats have tallied top 20 national finishes in three of the past four years. The program's national honors include winning four national titles (1966, 1967, 1968, 1970) and producing 42 All-Americans.