CARMEL, Ind.—Senior
Lydia Olivere (Wilmington, Del.) was the individual runner-up and tallied her third consecutive top-three finish at the 2021 BIG EAST Cross Country Championship Presented by JEEP on Friday afternoon. Olivere ran the 6,000 meter women's race in 20:49.3 at Northview Church just outside Indianapolis and Villanova finished fourth in the team standings in an incredibly close race. The top five teams were separated by a mere 17 total points at the finish line, making the outcome one of the most closely-contested championships in BIG EAST history.
Olivere, freshman
Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) and junior
Maggie Smith (Halifax, N.S.) all were among the top 20 individual finishers and earned All-BIG EAST honors for their performances. They were recognized in the awards ceremony which took place after the conclusion of both the men's and women's races, with Olivere and Sigfstead garnering first team all-conference accolades and Smith landing on the second team. This is the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Wildcats have had three or more All-BIG EAST finishers.
Friday's races got a boost from the weather, which was overcast and mild while avoiding heavy rain which had been forecasted for part of the day. Villanova's big three of Olivere, Sigfstead and Smith have each taken their turns as the Wildcats leading runner this season. Sigfstead finished fifth with a time of 21:00.0 in her BIG EAST debut, while Smith came in 14
th in 21:24.2 and earned cross country All-BIG EAST honors for the second time in her career.
Graduate student
McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) and freshman
Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) were the fourth and fifth scorers in the Villanova lineup. Keegan finished 26
th overall with a time of 22:11.8 and Robinson placed 33
rd in 22:26.5 in her first collegiate conference championships. There was plenty of youth in the Wildcats lineup, as 15 of the 17 members of the team's roster this season and eight of the 10 who competed on Friday are in their first or second year of cross country eligibility.
Rounding out Villanova's top seven were junior
Anna Helwigh (Soborg, Denmark) and redshirt freshman
Elizabeth Vaughn (Dayton, Ohio) who finished 34
th (22:32.9) and 42
nd (22:57.3), respectively. The rest of the lineup included freshman
Maya Dorer (New York, N.Y.), junior
Brynne Sumner (Canton, Ga.) and freshman
Alex Stasichin (Massapequa, N.Y.). Dorer placed 60
th (23:46.1) and was followed by Sumner in 70
th place (24:20.2) and Stasichin who came in 79
th overall (24:54.6).
The race consisted of three passes through a 2K loop, giving spectators a good view of how the championship would take shape. The team result looked too close to call at the 1K, 3K and 5K splits and it became apparent why at the finish line. Georgetown narrowly pulled out the team title with 65 points, finishing ahead of Butler (67), Connecticut (70), Villanova (80) and Providence (82) in a race packed with perennial conference and national contenders.
Villanova will now prepare for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, November 12. The regional meet takes places on the Goodman Campus Course at Lehigh and will determine the automatic and at-large qualifiers for the NCAA Championships later next month.
