photos by Kim Spir
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Villanova flew all the way to the west coast to run against the hometown Oregon cross country teams, and it paid off on a sunny afternoon here at the Springfield Country Club Friday afternoon.
The Villanova women defeated Oregon, ranked No. 2 in the country, 22-41, putting all of its scorers in the top 10. Canadian Sheila Reid won the race for Coach Gina Procaccio’s Wildcats, finishing 3 seconds ahead of Alex Kosinski of the Ducks.
In the men’s race, Oregon, the reigning national champions, were a well-beaten 3rd, losing to Alabama and Brigham Young. Villanova’s men finished 5th.
The Villanova women had opened the season ranked No. 5 nationally. Washington, defending national champions, are ranked No. 1.
Did Villanova have something to prove? “For sure,” Reid said. “I think we surprised ourselves at how well we were able to run as a group.” They wound up 1-4-5-7-9, while Oregon was 1-6-12-13-15.
For the Ducks, the meet was the debut for the high school star Jordan Hasay. Hasay was their No. 2 finisher here, finishing 6th.
“It was exciting wearing the Oregon uniform for the first time,” she said. “After two miles, everyone took off. It’s a huge PR for me.”
The Oregon coach, Vin Lananna, praised the youngster. “Jordan Hasay did a great job for a freshman. She followed the race, and she’ll be even better later in the season.”
New York native Nicole Blood, a senior and coming off an outstanding track season last spring, ran with the leaders in the early going of the 5,000-meter race but then fell off the pace and slid to 15th, finishing nearly a minute behind the winner. Reid’s time of 16:22.92 set a course record.
“I took a risk going to the lead when I did,” Reid said. “I almost got caught, but my 800-meter speed kicked in.”
“She had another gear,” Kosinski said.
Behind Reid for Villanova were Amanda Marino (Jackson Regional, N.J.), Nicole Schappert, Bogdana Mimic and Kaitlyn Tallman.
Alabama went 1-2 to win the men’s title with 53 points, 10 up on BYU. The Cougars’ No. 2 finisher was Thomas Gruenewald, of Fayetteville-Manlius, who finished 12th, just behind Luke Puskedra of Oregon.
Villanova was led by New Zealanders Miles Batty and Mathew Mildenhall, followed by Daniel Lewis, of Monsignor Farrell, who finished 22nd. The Wildcats’ No. 5 scorer was Bobby Papazian, of Gill St. Bernard’s, N.J., who was 30th.
Oregon’s top finisher was Matthew Centrowitz, who was 4th.
“The first race is always a rush,” Centrowitz said. “I know we’re all confident that we’ll bounce back. I learned as a team everyone has bad days, but you’ve just got to go with it, as long as we move forward and we just get back to it at practice.”
Centrowitz returns from last year’s national-championship team, which now must do without its ace, Galen Rupp, the individual national champion, who has graduated.