KENOSHA, Wisc.— The Villanova men's cross country team finished second in the team standings led by senior Liam Murphy who won the individual title over 8k and fifth year Haftu Strinzos who finished runner-up.
 
Scoring 42 points, the Wildcats finished just behind Butler with 36 points and ahead of Georgetown's 71 points. Villanova placed all five of its scoring runners in the top 20 overall at the 2023 BIG EAST Cross-Country Championship Presented by JEEP and co-hosted by Marquette University. This is the sixth straight season that the Wildcats have earned at least five All-BIG EAST honors based on its top-20 finishers at the conference meet.
 
The trio of Murphy, Strinzos and sophomore Marco Langon led the way for the 'Cats in Wisconsin. Despite the cold weather conditions in Kenosha Saturday morning, Murphy went out strong and found himself in the lead pack from the gun. Storming down the home stretch with no competitors in sight, Murphy crossed the line in 24:46.33. The Millstone, N.J. native has proven himself all season long with notable finishes at the Virginia Invitational, the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and now the BIG EAST Championships.
 
Alongside Murphy in the front pack was Strinzos who posted a time of 24:57.94. Murphy and Strinzos were the only two runners in the field to record times under 25 minutes. Rounding out the top-10 finishes for the Wildcats was Langon in 25:21.86. The trio earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors for the second straight year. One second separated senior Ryan Kredell (25:46.36) and junior Xian Shively (25: 47.80) as the two crossed the line in 15^th and 17^th place to earn All-BIG EAST Second Team honors.
 
Villanova will now prepare for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, November 10. 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 in the month.