BETHLEHEM, Pa.—Redshirt freshman Haftu Strintzos (Victoria, Australia) was the top Villanova finisher in his team debut and a contingent of Wildcats runners combined for a 12^th place finish in the gold race at the Paul Short Run on Saturday morning.  Strintzos came in 13^th out of nearly 400 runners in the 8,000 meter race on the Goodman Campus Course at Lehigh. 
 
Saturday's race marked the season debuts for Strintzos and senior Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.), a returning All-American and Mid-Atlantic region champion on the Villanova roster.  Strintzos covered the 8K course in 23:44.0 and Comber was the Wildcats second runner across the finish line with a 54^th place finish and a time time of 24:14.0.  Villanova raced with only part of its regular lineup in action as the team continues to prepare for meets later in the season. 
 
Junior Rob Morro (Media, Pa.) and the redshirt freshman duo of Patrick Spychalski (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) and Ben Seiple (Westport, Conn.) were the Wildcats other scoring runners.  Morro recorded a time of 24:40.2 to finish in 64^th place in the field of 372 runners, while Spychalski was 92^nd (24:32.2) and Seiple 171^st (24:59.9).  Villanova finished with 371 points in the team standings. 
 
Morro and Spychalski each lowered their previous top times for an 8,000 meter course, as did redshirt freshmen Patrick Craemer (Upton, Mass.) and Nick Ackerman (Manalapan, N.J.).  Craemer recorded a time of 25:12.6 and Ackerman finished in 25:37.2.  Rounding out the group of Wildcats runners were redshirt freshman Trevor Potts (Sparta, N.J.) and junior Jacob Bonanotte (Barrington, Ill.) who recorded times of 26:15.1 and 26:24.6, respectively. 
 
Villanova is nearing the midpoint of the 2019 season and Saturday's race at Lehigh served dual purposes for the team.  The Paul Short Run is one of the larger regional meets on the cross country schedule at this point in the year and gives the team a chance to face teams from several regions around the country.  The Goodman Campus Course at Lehigh is also the site for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet later this season.  The top two teams at the regional meet earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. 
 
Earlier in the morning a trio of Wildcats freshmen competed as unattached runners in the open race at the Paul Short Run.  The group included Mathias Powell (Mahomet, Ill.), Sean Dolan (Pennington, N.J.) and Miller Anderson (West Hartford, Conn.), with Powell coming in first among the trio in 24:57.7.  Dolan and Anderson recorded times of 25:14.6 and 25:50.1, respectively. 
 
Villanova will next compete in the UnderArmour Pre-National Invitational on October 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.  The meet takes place on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course which will host the national championships later this year for the 12^th time in the last 16 seasons.