NEW ORLEANS—All five of the Villanova scoring runners from the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional last week were named to the Mid-Atlantic All-Region Team in an announcement on Monday afternoon by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).  This is the ninth time since 2000 that the Wildcats have had at least five all-region honorees. 
 
Villanova won its first NCAA regional title since 2014 with a dominant team performance last Friday afternoon.  The five scorers for the Wildcats included sophomore Josh Phillips (Belrose, Australia), redshirt freshman Haftu Strintzos (Victoria, Australia), graduate student Nathan Rodriguez (Tempe, Ariz.), senior Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.) and senior Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.).  All five placed among the top 13 overall finishers out of 175 competitors at the regional meet. 
 
Marston and Comber have each been all-region honorees all four years of their Villanova careers.  They become the ninth and 10^th runners from the Wildcats to earn this distinction since the current NCAA regional format began in 2000.  Marston placed 10^th overall and Comber was 13^th in the regional race. 
 
Rodriguez, who came in third in the Villanova lineup and seventh overall, garnered all-region honors for the third time in his career.  The graduate transfer from Iowa State was previously an All-Midwest Region honoree in 2015 and 2017.  Phillips was named an all-region choice for the second straight season after leading the Wildcats with a third place finish at regionals.  He bounced back strong after an 18^th place finish at the BIG EAST Championships two weeks earlier, while Strintzos came in fourth overall and notched his second straight top-10 finish. 
 
The only previous year that Villanova had five finishers in the top 13 at the regional meet was in 2013, when the Wildcats won the team title with a score of 34 points.  Villanova won another team title last week with a score of 37 points, its sixth NCAA regional crown overall.  This year's all-region selections give the Wildcats a total of 85 honorees all-time. 
 
Villanova qualified for the NCAA Championships for the second straight year and the 34^th time overall with its top-two team finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regional.  Also on Monday, the Wildcats moved up two spots in the latest USTFCCCA national rankings to No. 22.  It is the team's highest poll position of the season.