Villanova Univeristy Athletics

CAREER COLLEGIATE RESULTS

One of the top distance runners in school history ... Competed for the Wildcats from 2019-23 in cross country and the longer distance events on the track ... Five-time All-American, including twice in cross country (2021, 2023) and three straight years outdoors in the 10000 meters (2021, 2022, 2023) ... As of the end of the 2023 outdoor season he owned five of the 11 fastest times in school history in the 10K and ranked second in the Villanova record book in the event ... Also ranked eighth in school history in the 5000 meters (13:45.70) and 10th in the 3000 meters (7:56.07) ... Won an individual BIG EAST title in cross country for the 2020 season (contested in Spring 2021) ... Six-time All-BIG EAST honoree and five-time Mid-Atlantic All-Region performer in cross country ... Named the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year for the 2020 cross country season ... Finished ninth at the cross country NCAA Championships in 2021 and 38th in 2023 ... At the outdoor NCAA Championships was a 19th place finisher in the 10000 meters in three consecutive seasons ... Owns the fastest times in the Villanova record book in cross country races at distances of four miles and 10000 meters, both of which were recorded during the 2021 season … Winner of the Villanova Athletics Sister Mary Margaret Cribben Award in 2023 … Two-time selection to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team in both cross country and track … Two-time BIG EAST All-Academic Team honoree and has been named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll four times … Prior to coming to Villanova he was the 2018 U20 gold medalist at both the Australia Cross Country Championship and the Oceania Cross Country Championship … He was the first U20 athlete in 11 years to win double gold at both of those championships in the same year.
 

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NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Competed on the national level in cross country five straight years from 2014-18 … Was the U20 gold medalist in 2017 in Wollongong and the U18 silver medalist in Canberra a year earlier … In 2018 was the U20 gold medalist at both the Australia Cross Country Championship and the Oceania Cross Country Championship … Became the first U20 athlete in 11 years to win double gold at both of those championships in the same year … Silver medalist on the track in the 5000 meters at the Australia Athletics U20 Championships in 2017.
 

CROSS COUNTRY

2020: Named the Mid-Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) ... Became the fifth Villanova runner in eight years to earn the honor ... BIG EAST individual champion and a first team All-BIG EAST performer ... Top runner for the Wildcats at both the BIG EAST and NCAA Championships ... Recorded a personal best time for an 8K cross country course at the BIG EAST meet; BIG EAST Championships (3/5): Won his first career conference title with a winning time of 23:05.2 over 8,000 meters in his first competition in more than a year ... Became the 13th individual BIG EAST cross country champion from Villanova and the first since 2016 ... Held off the runner-up from Butler by less than a second in a close finish ... His efforts helped the Wildcats finish third in the team standings and secure an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships 10 days later; NCAA Championships (3/15): Led the Wildcats with a 66th place finish at the national meet ... Produced a time of 31:11.0 on the 10,000 meter course on the Oklahoma State campus ... Finished 76 spots higher than where he had placed as a freshman two years earlier ... Villanova came in 20th at the meet to notch its best finish since 2014, a particularly strong finish after the Wildcats were ranked outside the national top 30 entering the meet.

2019: First team All-BIG EAST and Mid-Atlantic All-Region performer in his first collegiate season ... Competed five times during the season and finished in the top four of the Wildcats lineup in all five of his starts ... Owned the fastest time on an 8000 meter course by any Villanova runner during the year (23:44.0); Paul Short Run (10/5): Made his official collegiate debut at Lehigh, where he came in 13th overall out of 392 runners ... Finished atop the Wildcats lineup and recorded the fastest time on the team (23:44.0) for an 8K race during the season; UnderArmour Pre-National Invitational (10/19): Came in 39th out of 266 runners and was third in the team lineup with a time of 24:20.9 at the pre-NCAA meet; BIG EAST Championships (11/2): Finished fourth on the team and eighth overall at the conference meet with a time of 25:51.1 ... Earned first team All-BIG EAST honors for his top-10 finish and helped Villanova win its seventh conference team title and first in five years; NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional (11/15): Surged to a fourth place overall finish and was the Wildcats second runner across the finish line at the Mid-Atlantic regional meet ... Earned all-region honors and covered the 10K course in 30:02.9 ... Helped Villanova win its first regional team title since 2014 and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year; NCAA Championships (11/23): Was the third Villanova runner across the finish line in his NCAA Championships debut ... Tallied a 142nd place finish overall and posted a time of 32:17.2 on the 10K nationals course ... Villanova came in 23rd in the team standings at the NCAA Meet.
 

INDOOR

2020: Recorded a personal best time in the 3000 meters and earned All-BIG EAST accolades in the 5000 meters during his first collegiate indoor season ... Appeared at four meets during the season; Wesley A. Brown Invitational (1/18): Runner-up in the 3000 meters at Navy with a time of 8:17.69 in his season debut; Villanova Invitational (2/1): Raced to a fifth place finish in the 3000 meters and posted a time of 8:12.43 at the Wildcats home meet; David Hemery Valentine Invitational (2/15): Lowered his personal best time in the 3000 meters to 8:05.74 in Boston; BIG EAST Championships (3/1-3/2): Helped the Wildcats win their third straight indoor BIG EAST title by scoring individually in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters ... Contributed a total of 11 team points towards helping Villanova solidify its place atop the team standings ... Earned All-BIG EAST honors on the first day of the meet with a third place finish and a time of 14:17.98 in the 5000 meters ... Came in fourth in the 3000 meters a day later in 8:18.76.
 

OUTDOOR

2021: His first collegiate outdoor season was an impressive one as he qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 10000 meters … Earned honorable mention All-America honors in the 10K and posted three of the 10 fastest times in school history in the event … Qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary meet in both the 5000 meters and the 10000 meters … Moved into the top-10 in school history in both events during the season and also recorded a personal best time in the 1500 meters … Competed at six meets in all during the year; Raleigh Relays (3/25): Ran the 5000 meters in his outdoor season debut and tallied a personal best time of 13:47.32 … The mark put him into seventh place on the all-time Villanova performance list in the 5K; Temple Invite (4/9): Recorded a personal best time of 3:50.04 while finishing 11^th in the 1500 meters at Temple; Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational (4/24): Ran his first collegiate 10K race at Franklin Field during the traditional weekend of the Penn Relays … Won the race in 28:55.55 with a time that briefly ranked fifth in school history before it fell to seventh when Strintzos posted two lower times later in the season … This race served as his qualification for the NCAA East Preliminary meet; BIG EAST Championships (5/15): Scored in the 5000 meters at the conference championships, finishing sixth and posting a time of 13:52.91 to lead a contingent of Villanova runners in the race; NCAA East Preliminary (5/26, 5/28): Ran both the 5000 meters and the 10000 meters at the regional meet … On the first night of the meet finished sixth in the national semifinals of the 10K with a then-personal best mark of 28:52.71 … Qualified for the NCAA Championships with that race … Came back two nights later to run in the national semifinal heats of the 5000 meters where he placed 30^th overall and 16^th in his heat in 14:05.66 … Made a big move midway through the race when he surged from near the back of the pack into contention near the front of the race within a single lap before winding up in the middle of the pack at the finish line; NCAA Championships (6/9): Lowered his PR in the 10000 meters for the third consecutive race and finished with a time of 28:51.06 … Came in 19^th in the race and earned honorable mention All-America recognition for the first time in his career … His time in the race is the fourth-fastest in school history to be run during the collegiate season and settled him into third place all-time on the Villanova performance list in the 10K.
 

BEFORE VILLANOVA

Club Track & Field: Was a member of the Glenhuntly Athletics Club from 2013-18 … Holds a club record as part of the U16 Boys medley relay team … Silver medalist in the 5000 meters at the Victorian Open Championships (second among Victorians and fourth overall) in November 2017 … His time of 14:15.61 was just six-tenths of a second off qualifying for the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships held in 2018 … Silver medalist in the U20 5000 meters at the Victoria State Junior Athletics Championships in Melbourne in February 2017 … Honors include being recognized for the Outstanding Winter Performance in 2017 … Was the top Glenhuntly newcomer for junior boys in 2013.
 
Haileybury College: Developed into one of the top junior runners in Victoria in the distance events and cross country … Holds the Victoria high school records in both the 3000 meters (8:26.53) and the 5000 meters (14:15.61) … Double gold medalist in the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters in the U20 races at the Victoria All Schools State Championships in November 2017 … Set a meet record with a time of 15:08.63 in the 5000 meters … Represented his school at the Victoria All-Schools State Cross Country Championships and medaled six straight years from 2013-18, including being the gold medalist at the U20 level in 2017 … U20 Silver medalist at the Victoria Cross Country Championships in 2017 … From grades 7-12 ran in all 36 of the APS (Associated Public Schools of Victoria) cross country races … Won all six of his races in 2018 and four of the six races with two runner-up finishes in 2017 … Part of the 2015 Haileybury Cross Country premiership team … Also represented Haileybury at the APS athletics competitions every year from 2013-18 … Was the 3000 meters Open champion at the APS Athletics Finals in 2016 and 2017, won gold in the U18 1500 meters in 2015 and was second in the Open 1500 meters in 2017 … Cross country team captain in 2017 and 2018, and the athletics team captain in 2018 … Earned both cross country honors and athletics honors in grades 11 (2017) and 12 (2018) … Winner of the Haileybury College Trophy for distance running in 2018 and the Cup for Inter-School Cross Country Outstanding Athlete the same year … Four-time winner of the Outstanding Performance and Contribution awards in both cross country (2015-18) and athletics (2015-18) … Two-time winner of the same awards for both cross country and athletics in 2013 and 2014 to earn middle school colours … Named the U15 Inter-School Cross Country Outstanding Runner.
 
Personal: Born 8/27/1999 in Hazwien, Tigray, Ethiopia … Adopted son of Maria Strintzos … Hobbies include watching Netflix and spending time with friends … Chose to attend Villanova for its balance of academics and athletics, and for the challenge of succeeding in both aspects of college life … Electrical Engineering major ... Engineering Entrepreneurship minor.