UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Junior Bella Burda (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) claimed her first career individual victory in cross country and helped lead Villanova to a runner-up finish in a strong field of teams at the Penn State National Open on Friday morning. Burda tallied a winning time of 20:21 over 6,000 meters at the Blue/White Golf Courses and finished one second in front of the runner-up from the host Nittany Lions. Junior Nicole Hutchinson (West Vancouver, B.C.) also placed in the top-10 to help the Wildcats come in second in a close race at the top of the team standings.

Villanova scored 62 team points and placed all five of its scoring runners in the top 21 finishing spots in a field of 178 runners. Those top five runners had a spread of just 37 seconds between them at the finish line, and the Wildcats topped Penn State with their first and fifth runners. The final team scores had the Nittany Lions with 44 points, followed by Villanova, Dartmouth (122), Princeton (125) and Cornell (162) to round out the top five. A total of 17 teams competed in Friday's meet, including four of the top five teams in the most recent Mid-Atlantic regional rankings released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Burda was in fifth place after the first 2,000 meters and finished strong to emerge as the meet's individual winner. Hutchinson continued her strong start to the season with a seventh place overall finish and recorded a time of 20:35. Junior Kaley Ciluffo (LeClaire, Iowa) was 14th in 20:44, while freshmen Lauren Ryan (South Yarra, Australia) and Rachel McArthur (Bristow, Va.) came in 19th (20:54) and 21st (20:58), respectively.

The potent force of Burda and Hutchinson at the top of the Wildcats lineup has been on display through the first three meets of the season. Hutchinson was the top Villanova runner at both the Main Line Invitational and the Paul Short Run last month, and the team still has senior Siofra Cleirigh Buttner waiting in the wings for the upcoming championship meets.

Just as critical to the team's success this season has been the performances of the team's other top runners. Ciluffo made a big move over the second half of Friday's race to move up from 30th at the 2K mark to 14th at the finish line. Ryan had a successful collegiate debut in her first official race for the Wildcats, while McArthur has been a steady scorer this season and moved up 10 spots in the second half of Friday's meet.

Senior Katie Fisher (Uxbridge, Ont.) and graduate student Maria Seykora (Broomall, Pa.) were the sixth and seventh finishers for Villanova with respective times of 21:16 and 21:19. Freshman Alex Harris (Stony Point, N.Y.) recorded a time of 21:51, while sophomore Ann Campbell (Mission Hills, Kan.) finished in 21:59 and senior Erin Jaskot (Blauvelt, N.Y.) registered a time of 22:52.

Next up for the Wildcats is the BIG EAST Championships on October 28 in Kenosha, Wis.

COMPLETE VILLANOVA RESULTS

Team Scores (Top 10)

1. Penn State              442. Villanova               623. Dartmouth               1224. Princeton               1255. Cornell                 1626. Oklahoma State          1797. James Madison           2078. West Virginia           2119. North Carolina          23310. Bucknell               252

Individual Results

Bella Burda                1st of 178             20:21Nicole Hutchinson          7th                    20:35Kaley Ciluffo              14th                   20:44Lauren Ryan                19th                   20:54Rachel McArthur            21st                   20:58Katie Fisher               33rd                   21:16Maria Seykora              39th                   21:19Alex Harris                74th                   21:51Ann Campbell               83rd                   21:59Erin Jaskot                137th                  22:52