Official BIG EAST Release

NEW YORK--Senior Stephanie Schappert (Delray Beach, Fla.) was named the BIG EAST Female Athlete of the Week for women's cross country in an announcement by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon. This is the first career weekly conference honor for Schappert, who won the individual title at the Main Line Invitational last week.

Schappert crossed the finish line of the three-mile race on the Alumni Course at Haverford College with a winning time of 16:51.10. She registered a margin of victory of more than 11 seconds and established a new personal best time on the local course. This is the third straight year that Schappert has recorded a top-six overall finish at the Main Line meet.

Villanova opened the 2014 season with last week's meet and placed five runners in the top 10 overall. Schappert was a scoring runner for the Wildcats at every meet last season and earned All-Mid Atlantic Region honors to help lead Villanova to a team berth at the NCAA Championships.

On tap for the Wildcats this week is a pair of meets on different sides of the country. Villanova will compete in both the Washington Invitational and the local Paul Short Run this weekend. A full preview of both meets will be posted later this week.