MADISON, Wis.—In her season opener racing against a talented field of nationally-ranked teams, senior Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton, Alta.) took the lead after the 4K mark of the women's championship race and pulled away down the stretch to emerge as the individual champion of the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday afternoon. She and 11^th place finisher Nikki Vanasse (Martinsville, N.J.) helped Villanova come in 13^th in the team standings and ahead of four teams ranked in the most recent national top 30 poll.
 
"We are very happy to finish in the top half of the field at such a strong race and while running without one of the top three runners in our lineup," Wildcats head coach Gina Procaccio said.
 
Sigfstead ran the 6,000 meter women's race on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in 19:55.7 and posted a nearly eight second margin of victory. It was the second career race on the course for Sigfstead, who had been Villanova's top finisher at this meet as a first year collegian in 2018. The site will host the NCAA Championships later this Fall.
 
"I love this course," Sigfstead said. "I raced here as a freshman and it was the highlight of the year. It's going to be cold and snowy [for NCAAs in November] which is just like home so I'm looking forward to it. My coach knows me best and know that I'm an endurance race runner. She said that I should be able to trust my racing instincts at this point. When the girls took it [early in the race], I had raced one of them in the 10K. They're great runners and I like a hard race, so I just made good decisions as the race went on."
 
Sigfstead powered down the long closing straightaway with a sizable lead over the rest of the field of nearly 200 runners. She heard the cheering from a large crowd of fans as she approached the finish line.
 
"Other than Mid-Atlantic last year, I have never really had that feeling before," Sigfstead said. "Obviously Nuttycombe is a very big race, so a pretty special moment. [Men's coach] Marcus [O'Sullivan] told me to just go enjoy it, he whispered that as I went by and I'll definitely remember that. It was the first race of the season. Workouts are a great indicator but they don't tell you everything. My coach told me that my instincts would kick in if I'm up there and to push it if I felt good. That's my strength and I saw her the whole way and my assistant coach Anna too."
 
Vanasse finished 11^th overall in 20:23.3 in a strong follow-up to her individual win at the Main Line Invitational last week. The rest of the Wildcats scoring five featured senior Emily Robinson (Rogers, Ark.) in 73^rd place with a time of 21:13.1, followed by first year collegian Rosie Shay (Middletown, N.J.) and junior Amelia Arrieta (Kansas City, Mo.) who posted times of 21:34.4 and 21:45.2, respectively.
 
Villanova's team score of 323 points put it ahead of nationally-ranked teams from Boston College, Lipscomb, Northwestern and Iowa State.
 
The other finishers for the Wildcats were sophomore Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) and senior Margaret Carroll (Mount Wolf, Pa.) with times of 21:51.3 and 22:26.8, respectively.
 
Villanova's next meet for the Wildcats is on October 18 at the Princeton Fall Classic.