MADISON, Wis.—In the best individual women's performance by a Villanova runner in 11 years, senior Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) surged to a 15^th place finish at the 2024 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning. Sigfstead earned her first career All-America accolade in cross country and capped off an outstanding Fall season which saw her earn national acclaim for her success.
 
Sigfstead was an individual qualifier for the NCAA Championships and ran her third career race at the meet. Her development into one of the top distance runners in the country has been evident all season, with Saturday's result an exclamation point as Sigfstead improved by 56 spots from where she finished at the national championships last season. It was the third career start and second this season on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, where Sigfstead was the individual champion of the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational earlier this year.
 
Not only did she move up from where she finished last season, but Sigfstead surged through the pack at nearly every marker along the 6,000 meter course. Official splits available after the race showed her to be in 34^th place after the first kilometer and 29^th place at the 2K mark. Sigfstead moved up to 22^nd at the midpoint of the race and later surged eight spots from 23^rd to 15^th place with 10000 meters to go. Her time was 19:49.0 at the finish line and represented her fifth straight race this season coming in below 20 minutes.
 
Sigfstead bookended the 2024 cross country season with her big Nuttycombe win in her season debut on September 27 along with today's strong finish in the cross country finale. She was the National Athlete of the Week as chosen by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) after the Nuttycombe win, which was followed by top-10 finishes at the Princeton Fall Classic, the BIG EAST Championships (fourth) and the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional (third).
 
The emergence of Sigfstead on the national scene started long before this Fall, however. She was the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional individual champion during the 2023 cross country season, won a BIG EAST title in the 5000 meters during the 2024 indoor track & field campaign, and recorded a second team All-America performance in the 10000 meters later in the Spring at the outdoor NCAA Championships.
 
Sigfstead is the first women's runner from Villanova with a top-15 finish at the cross country championships since a fifth place finish by Emily Lipari in 2013. She is now a two-time collegiate All-American counting Saturday's finish and her outdoor accolade from earlier this year.