EARLYSVILLE, Va.—Junior Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) paced the way for Villanova with her fastest career time in a 6,000 meter cross country race and the Wildcats had two runners among the top 25 overall finishers at the XC-23 Pre-Nationals on Saturday morning. Sigfstead came in eighth in a field of more than 200 runners with a time of 20:01.6 at Panorama Farms while junior Emma McGill (Lebanon, N.J.) finished in 24^th place and crossed the line in 20:32.4.
 
Villanova placed 10^th in the team standings in a strong showing leading up to the start of postseason competition later this month. The top four teams in Saturday's race are all nationally-ranked in this week's United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll. There were 24 teams in all in the Women's Blue 6K race on Saturday and the Wildcats were the only BIG EAST squad in the field, making the meet an important one for the potential of picking up points by finishing ahead of teams from other regions.
 
The combination of Sigfstead and McGill at the top of the Villanova lineup continues to be one of the team's better storylines of the 2023 season thus far. They each ran at or near the front of the lead pack for the duration of Saturday's race despite rainy and cool conditions. For the first time this season junior Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) was the Wildcats third runner and was less than 30 seconds off McGill's pace at the finish line.
 
Robinson recorded a time of 20:59.1 to finish 47^th overall out of 202 competitors. Villanova's other two scoring runners were junior Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) and freshman Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) who posted times of 21:55.2 and 22:04.6, respectively. They finished 141^st and 152^nd in the field to give the Wildcats a team score of 351, just six behind ninth place Washington State and close behind Michigan (326) in eighth place and Cal Poly (301) in seventh place.
 
Villanova rounded out its lineup with senior Elizaeth Vaughn (Dayton, Ohio) recording a time of 22:10.3 and sophomore Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.) finishing in 22:29.2.
 
This week was the first time this season that the Wildcats got a look at the Panorama Farms course which will be the venue for the NCAA Championships later this year. Villanova's season to date has included first place finishes at the Temple Owls Cross Country Invitational and the Main Line Invitational to go along with a fourth place result against strong competition at the Battle in Beantown two weeks ago.
 
Next up for the Wildcats is the first of three postseason meets, the BIG EAST Championships, on Saturday, October 28 at Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wis.