VILLANOVA, Pa.—At the end of the summer when Villanova student-athletes reported back to campus, head women's cross country coach Gina Procaccio asked the members of her team to write down their top goal for the upcoming season.  It is an important first step to take.  Each year is its own unique journey after all, so it would make sense for a team to plot its course from the outset.  Why else would the college basketball season be known as the "road" to the Final Four?
 
Villanova sophomore Lydia Olivere wrote down her goal and it simply stated, "Get the team to nationals."  Spoiler alert: Olivere, and the rest of her Wildcats teammates, are headed to nationals.  Villanova races in the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind, where the women's race will go off at 11:15 a.m. 
 
"That was my singular goal for the season," Olivere said.  "We had a goal we wanted to achieve, and we weren't going to let anything get in our way.  I think it goes to show if you manifest something and think about it, you can achieve it.  Every weekend we had, every workout, we got more in shape and more fit.  When it came time for regionals we were so motivated and ready."
 
The goal itself doesn't spark any surprise for a Wildcats program which has won more championships on a national stage than any other Division I women's cross country team.  Villanova has captured nine national titles over the years, with no other school winning more than five championships.  There have also been nine individual national champions from the Wildcats; only two other programs have even produced three individual title winners.  
 
Making it to the NCAA Championships in any given season is a clear-cut expectation for the Wildcats, regardless of whether it is written down on a sheet of paper.  For this specific Villanova team to make it there however, is a feat that cannot be taken lightly. 
 
When the Wildcats lined up for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional last week, they had four freshmen among their seven runners on the starting line.  Villanova came in second out of 31 teams at the regional meet to clinch an automatic bid to nationals.  Three of the team's freshmen were among the Wildcats five scoring runners.  All four placed in the top-60 individually in a race with more than 200 competitors.
 
Out of nine regional meets around the country and a total of 269 schools who raced a full team at their respective regional, only 19 teams had at least four freshmen on the starting line.  None of the other 18 finished in the top five of the team standings at their meet.  Just one other school from the group will join Villanova at this weekend's NCAA Championships. 
 
"It was the best feeling," fifth-year senior Ann Campbell, the elder veteran of this year's roster, said of the team's nationals bid.  "It's just so nice because they are so young.  For them to experience nationals, especially for the freshmen, and even Lydia is just a sophomore, it's the best feeling that they get to experience that.  I just want them to know they have so much potential." 
 
Campbell's leadership on the team is backed up by her results.  The most experienced member of this year's squad came in third at the BIG EAST Championships and fourth at regionals.  Villanova has made it to the NCAA Championships every year she has been on the team, so she knows potential when she sees it. 
 
The superlatives for the Wildcats freshmen don't end with simply having four first-year runners on the starting line.  The top finisher among the Villanova rookies was Maggie Smith, who came in third overall at the regional meet.  It matched the best individual finish by a freshman at any of the nine regionals.  Of the 18 teams who tallied top-two finishes at their regional meet and earned automatic bids to nationals, only the Wildcats had three freshmen among their first five runners across the finish line.
 
In addition to Smith coming in third, freshmen Brynne Sumner (Canton, Ga.) and Nikki Merrill (Portsmouth, R.I.) placed 32^nd and 37^th, respectively.  Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) was 60^th in only her third race of the season.  If the national meet was the Wildcats destination, what was Villanova's path to reach it? 
 
"I think the first thing is, having all those freshmen, you just have to be positive," Campbell said.  "We talked about it at the beginning that we wanted to make it to nationals.  Every race we were just positive and every day we were saying this is a goal.  As the season progressed, we realized it was realistic."
 
The collegiate cross country season is an odd juxtaposition, in some ways both a marathon and a sprint.  These are the races where the longer distance runners can excel, but the entire season crams six or seven meets into the space of less than two months.  Teams have some time to build up to full strength, but the margin for error is small. 
 
"As soon as you arrive on campus you have to put your trust into Gina," Smith said.  "She knows what she's doing so we had to not get ahead of ourselves, but also put in the work that was necessary.  We were all ready [at regionals] and knew what we needed to do on the start line.  Each race is a new chance and a new start.  Everyone can be on and magic can happen."   
 
Villanova opened the season by running in the Main Line Invitational at Haverford, where Olivere won her first career individual cross country title.  Smith was the runner-up and Campbell came in third, with eight Wildcats in the top-10 overall.  As is typical for cross country season, Villanova was still building slowly towards its end goal.  Only four runners raced for the Wildcats at the team's second meet, the Paul Short Run at Lehigh in early October.
 
"It's not a smooth road for anybody in the season," Olivere said.  "Just getting back on campus, classes, practice and everything, it's an adjustment and there are a lot of ups and downs.  With Gina's experience, she's been here for so long and has dealt with so many different types of runners, you just have to trust her and have blind faith when the way isn't clear.  That has helped us remain positive."
 
"Early in the season maybe we didn't have the best results or be where we thought we could end up, but we focused on the positives and what was good," Campbell said.  "We tried to do that when the results weren't coming together in the beginning, then in the end building up all those positives came together for us."
 
Villanova competed at the BIG EAST Championships on the first Saturday in November, where a close race between the Wildcats, Butler and Georgetown was expected.  The meet did not disappoint, with those three teams separated by just 13 points.  Butler won the conference title with Villanova second and Georgetown third, as the Wildcats avenged finishing behind the Hoyas in a meet at Wisconsin two weeks earlier.  That set the stage for regionals, where both teams were once again expected to be among the favorites. 
 
"Especially with regionals, our goal was to make it as a team," Olivere said.  "Having that mindset going in, then of course you can't predict the race beforehand so when you're in the moment you have to kind of adjust to what's happening.  As Gina likes to always say, be the eye of the storm.  When things are changing around you, there might be some commotion but just remain calm and adjust as needed."
 
Just as she had at the BIG EAST meet, Olivere finished strong and won the Mid-Atlantic Regional individual title.  Her winning time was 21:29.5 at the conference championships, which she lowered to 20:02.0 in better conditions for the regional meet. 
 
"In both races it was in my head thinking about needing to position myself in the top pack knowing that could help with the team score," Olivere said.  "Both scenarios, going into the last 2K of the race which is when the race can change and a lot can happen, just feeling strong there and ready for any changes that can happen.  I think that was a big difference, so in both races that was kind of where I thought I could possibly win it.  Going in it was just staying with the lead pack."
 
Olivere, Smith and Campbell all finished in the top four individually at regionals, only the second time Villanova has placed its first three runners that highly in 20 seasons of the current regional format.  The finishes of Sumner and Merrill in the top 40 helped the Wildcats finish just four points behind Penn State and 14 points ahead of Georgetown in what wound up being the closest finish out of any of the men's or women's regional races around the country. 
 
"Even during the race, there was about 1000 to go and I heard Gina cheering and she said 'Nikki and Brynne, they're doing it,'" Olivere said of her freshmen teammates.  "That was the extra little boost that I needed.  I think for [Maggie and Ann] as well, I'm sure she said it to them too, but just knowing everyone is doing their part you know you have got to finish strong."
 
In the typically chaotic scene outside the finishing chute at Lehigh's cross country course, Villanova was in its huddle and awaiting any word on official results.  After executing their plan going into the race, the Wildcats were optimistic but unsure of where they would ultimately end up.  In the blink of an eye, a loud cheer erupted out of the huddle. 
 
"Looking at the results of even just the three of us, I think we had a good hope that we could do it," Smith said.  "We didn't really know how everyone else's four and fives were shaping up.  When Gina and [graduate assistant] Caroline [Alcorta] had the results on their phone, no one wanted to jump the gun.  As soon as we knew for sure, that's when all the jumping and screaming broke out.  That was when we knew.  Coming from my experience [in high school], cross country was more of an individual aspect and maybe qualifying as an individual, so to not just qualify one person and for the whole team to go is a feeling I have never experienced before.  It was surreal."
 
"Every year is definitely different but it always means a lot to us," Campbell said of clinching the berth to nationals.  "Gina always talks about wearing the 'V' on our chest and that's such an amazing thing to get to do, just to have pride with that.  Going to nationals is what we do.  It's just a great feeling to continue that tradition and keep building for the future."
 
Villanova can now set its sights on the NCAA Championships and making good on the expectation of adding to its long history at the national meet.  Just as they have all season long, the Wildcats will take their team mentality into NCAAs. 
 
"It's definitely an expectation, it's not a what-if kind of a thing," Olivere said.  "I think that helps in the training and all we do to prepare.  Once we got to regionals, we kind of all thought to ourselves we have no other options.  We're going to make it there.  That kind of culture, just knowing it's expected is helpful and motivating.  Ending on the biggest stage you can is a great feeling."
 
"When the race starts to hurt or something, that's when it is not about you," Smith said.  "It's about the team and that makes it easier to keep pushing and make the move or stay in your position, because you're doing it for everyone else and you know that if we can all get together it's going to be so much more special."