AMBLER, Pa.—Graduate student Lizzie Martell (Essex Junction, Vt.) led Villanova with a runner-up individual finish on Friday evening as a small contingent of Wildcats opened the 2025 season competing in the Temple Invitational held on the Ambler campus. The small local meet marks the start of the new season and comes as teams are just starting their preparations in earnest for the bulk of the schedule which will span mid-September through November on the calendar.
 
Villanova had six athletes running in Friday's meet, including two who made their Wildcats debut. Martell covered the 4,000-meter course in 14:46.1 to kick off her second year on the Main Line. She came to Villanova after a successful undergraduate career at New Hampshire and ran unattached in two 2024 cross country races before officially debuting for the Wildcats during the 2025 outdoor track & field campaign. She tallied her first career first place cross country finish with Friday's result.
 
Junior Therese Trainer (Havertown, Pa.), a transfer from Penn State, and collegiate newcomer Gabby Pistner (St. Marys, Pa.) were the two athletes who wore the Villanova singlet for the first time. They joined a lineup that featured Martell along with senior Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.), junior Caelen O'Leary (Taunton, Mass.) and sophomore Lucy Moran (Branford, Conn.).
 
Martell and Pogue each recorded times that are among the 10 fastest Villanovans have recorded at the seldomly run distance of 4,000 meters. Pogue came in fourth overall out of 72 runners with a time of 14:56.3, followed by Trainer in fifth place in 15:03.8. Moran and Pistner crossed the finish line in seventh and eighth places while posting times of 15:20.8 and 15:20.9, respectively, and O'Leary finished 21^st in 15:37.6.
 
Villanova next runs in the Main Line Invitational on September 19.