NEW YORK—Fifth year cross country runner Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) was named the BIG EAST Male Athlete of the Week on Monday afternoon. It is the second weekly honor of the year for Murphy, who finished second individually in a field of talented teams at the Princeton Fall Classic last week. It is the sixth time in Murphy's career, and the fourth time during cross country season, that Murphy has garnered BIG EAST weekly recognition.
 
Last week's meet at Princeton featured the top three teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region in a strong field of 22 teams. Murphy was the runner-up out of 234 runners in the men's 8,000-meter race and his time of 22:36.8 is the second-fastest ever recorded by a Villanova runner on an 8K cross country course. In his two starts so far this season, Murphy has recorded a third place finish at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and Friday's second place result at Princeton. Both meets featured several nationally-ranked teams.
 
Villanova won the team title of the Princeton Fall Classic thanks to a strong charge led by Murphy, junior Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) and redshirt freshman Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia). All three runners were among the top nine finishers overall and the Wildcats had all five of their scoring runners in the top 31 in an outstanding team performance. Villanova finished the day with 70 points to come in ahead of Georgetown (87), Princeton (92) and North Carolina (106).
 
The team result pushed the Wildcats into the top spot of the Mid-Atlantic regional ranking which was revealed on Monday afternoon by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). It is the first time this year Villanova has ascended to the top spot in the regional poll, as the Wildcats passed Princeton in this week's ranking and sit ahead of Georgetown (No. 2), the Tigers (No. 3), Navy (No. 4) and Penn (No. 5).
 
Villanova will now start to prepare for postseason competition over the next month, beginning with the BIG EAST Championships on Friday, November 1 in Leesburg, Va. The postseason schedule also includes the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, November 15 and the NCAA Championships on Saturday, November 23.