Villanova Univeristy Athletics

Andy O’Reilly was a distance runner for the Wildcats from 1967-70 and is a 1996 inductee to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame.  During his career, O’Reilly was an NCAA champion as part of Villanova’s distance medley relay in 1969.  He was also a four-time All-American, a three-time IC4A champion and a four-time Penn Relays champion.
 
O’Reilly ran the leadoff leg of the distance medley relay at the indoor NCAA Championships in both 1969 and 1970.  He helped the Wildcats capture the national title in the relay with a winning time of 9:45.8 in 1969, while the 1970 squad came in third in 9:49.3.  In addition to being an All-American on both of those relays, O’Reilly was also an individual All-American in the 880 yards indoors in 1970 and ran the second leg of the All-American two mile relay in 1968.
 
During the 1968 indoor season, O’Reilly was both an All-American and an IC4A champion as part of two mile relay teams.  A lineup that consisted of Allan McCafferty, O’Reilly, Craig Nation and Ian Hamilton won the IC4A title in 7:39.2.  Villanova then went on to finish second at the NCAA Championships with a time of 7:27.3 and a lineup of Nation, O’Reilly, Hamilton and Dave Patrick.  O’Reilly was the individual 1000 yard champion at the indoor IC4A meet in 1970, as well as the outdoor 880 yard champion that same year.
 
O’Reilly was a part of four Championship of America titles at the Penn Relays.  He led off the two mile relay and ran the second leg of the mile relay in 1969, in addition to anchoring the sprint medley relay and running the second leg of the two mile relay in 1970.
 
Perhaps most notable among the many champion relay teams O’Reilly was a part of was the 1969 two mile relay squad which consisted of O’Reilly, Chris Mason, Marty Liquori and Frank Murphy.  That quartet set a world record indoors with a time of 7:23.5 at the Mason-Dixon Games on February 15, 1969.  They ran in the same order at the Penn Relays, where the Wildcats won a championship with a time of 7:20.10.  The team was inducted to the Penn Relays Wall of Fame in 2013.
 
Villanova was at the height of its national success under legendary head coach Jumbo Elliott during O’Reilly’s years on the team.  In a remarkable stretch of dominance, the Wildcats won three straight NCAA cross country titles from 1966-68 to go along with the 1968 indoor national championship and three consecutive top-10 team finishes at the outdoor NCAA meet from 1968-70.  Villanova finished no lower than fourth at the indoor national meet from 1967-70, and was the IC4A team champion all four of those seasons.  The team also won three outdoor IC4A titles (1967, 1968, 1970) and was the 1969 runners-up during that span.