ASHLAND, Neb.—A complete team effort led the Villanova women to a runner-up finish at the 2025 BIG EAST Cross Country Championships presented by JEEP early Friday afternoon. It is the first time since 2019 that the Wildcats have made the team awards podium, and the finish came on the strength of all five scoring runners in the Villanova lineup earning All-BIG EAST honors for their individual finishes.
 
The strength of the Wildcats roster was evident with four runners among the first 10 across the finish line and all five scorers in the top 17 overall. Villanova's depth extended well beyond its top five however, as a quartet of true freshmen finished between 26^th and 40^th overall and were separated by less than 20 seconds at the finish line. For the second straight race, the top runner in the team lineup was junior Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) who came in second in the field of 96 runners.
 
O'Connor covered the 6,000 meter Olsson Cross Country Course at Mahoney State Park in 19:52.7. It is her third consecutive race under 20 minutes this season and she moved up 26 spots from where she finished at last year's BIG EAST cross country meet. O'Connor, graduate student Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.), graduate student Nikki Vanasse (Martinsville, N.J.) and senior Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) all placed in the top 10. Sophomore Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.) was 17^th to round out the top five.
 
Making the result for Villanova even more impressive is the current state of BIG EAST cross country, the conference as strong as it has been in some time. Both the Wildcats (No. 14) and the meet's team champion, Georgetown (No. 10), are nationally-ranked and the top three teams in Friday's meet each ranking in the to four of their respective regions.
 
This is the first time since 2018 that Villanova has had four of the top 10 finishers at the BIG EAST Championships, although it is also the third time in the past five seasons that the team has had more than one runner in the top five. The quartet of O'Connor, Carroll, Vanasse and Arrieta each moved up at least 14 spots individually from where they finished last season. Shay also moved up six spots from her conference debut a year ago.
 
Carroll finished in fifth place with a time of 20:01.2, while Vanasse was eighth in 20:05.4 and Arrieta finished 10^th with a personal best 6K cross country time of 20:21.1. They each garnered first team All-BIG EAST recognition at the awards ceremony following the race, while Shay recorded a time of 20:42.1 in 17^th place and was a second team All-BIG EAST honoree.
 
Freshman Zoe Mosher (Pleasantville, N.S.) led off the second half of the Wildcats lineup with a time of 21:10.7 and finished 24^th overall. She was followed closely by classmates Maeve Smith (Ocean City, N.J.) in 26^th place (21:15.5), Cecilia Montagnese (Leetsdale, Pa.) in 31^st place (21:21.5) and Sophia McInnes (Bayport, N.Y.) in 40^th place (21:31.3). Each of the four were making their BIG EAST debuts and they all finished among the top 14 runners who are in their first year of cross country eligibility.
 
Senior Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.) tallied her best career finish in three starts at the BIG EAST meet and was 47^th overall with a time of 21:43.3. Villanova's team score of 42 points is their lowest at the conference championships since 2018 and matches the second-lowest score for a runner-up at the meet over the last 30 years.
 
Georgetown finished first in the team standings with 24 points, followed by the Wildcats, Providence (61), Connecticut (104), Xavier (154), Butler (207), Creighton (209), DePaul (215), Seton Hall (267), Marquette (270) and St. John's (340).
 
Friday's meet kicked off postseason competition for Villanova, which will next compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, November 14. The meet is being held at Lehigh where the Wildcats were the team champions of the Paul Short Run earlier this year. Villanova has finished first or second as a team in all six of its competitions this season.