HAVERFORD, Pa.—Fifth year collegian
Nikki Vanasse (Martinsville, N.J.) cruised to a first place finish in her Villanova debut and the Wildcats stacked the race results with each of the top five finishers at the Main Line Invitational on Friday afternoon. The season opener on a revised 5,000-meter Alumni Course at Haverford showed the team's depth and potential this season. Villanova had its first five runners separated by less than 52 seconds at the finish line even without its full lineup competing in the first meet of the year.
Vanasse, a graduate transfer from Columbia who has been an All-Northeast Region and All-Ivy League performer during her career, pulled away from the pack after the first mile and went on to a winning time of 17:03.8. The race was a particularly strong one for Vanasse and her teammates, who are still in the early stages of their training for the bulk of the season to come. Seven runners competed in the Wildcats lineup and three other athletes ran in the meet as unattached entries.
"It was really fun to put on the Villanova uniform for the first time," Vanasse said of the chance to get the competitive juices going this early in the season. "Today was great. We have a lot of history, and [a lot of] strength this year with the team so I was just excited to come out and I was happy to get a good race in. For myself [the first race] is just wanting to feel smooth and confident. That's a good indicator of fitness and I definitely felt both of those today."
Last year the Wildcats had the same five scoring runners in every meet of the season. All five of those scorers are returning in 2024 and three competed in Friday's race. Senior
Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) was the runner-up with a time of 17:39.0 and was just ahead of sophomore
Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) who came in third in 17:42.4. Freshman
Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.) made her collegiate debut with a fourth place finish in 17:43.8 and senior
Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) was fifth with a time of 17:55.6.
The women's race at the Main Line Invitational featured Division I competition from La Salle and Penn among the nine teams with a full contingent of runners. Villanova led the team scores with a perfect score of 15 points, followed by La Salle (55) and Penn (85) to round out the top three scores.
Villaonva's lineup also included freshman
Bella Walsh (Middletown, Del.) making her collegiate debut and finishing seventh overall with a time of 18:24.5, while junior
Kinsey Pogue (Danville, Calif.) came in 13
th and crossed the finish line in 18:47.3.
A trio of Wildcats newcomers were competing as unattached entries in the race and did not count towards the team scoring. Fifth year collegian
Lizzie Martell (Essex Junction, Vt.) came in sixth overall (18:21.4). The other finishers were freshmen
Lucy Moran (Branford, Conn.) and
Lindsay Clive-Smith (San Diego, Calif.) who recorded times of 19:16.6 and 20:33.1, respectively.
Villanova has a quick turnaround before its next competition which will be at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational next Friday. The annual meet attracts several top teams from around the country and this year serves as a preview of the national championship venue on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wis.
"Nuttycombe is a competitive race so it will definitely show where we are," Vanasse said. "I think now we know a little more what our fitness is and can build off this race [today]. We'll get on that line and show that what we've got."
