Providence Women, Georgetown Men Look To Three-Peat At X-C Championships
NEW YORK – The Providence women’s team and the Georgetown men’s squad will be aiming for their third straight titles at the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships to be held Saturday, October 28, at the Wayne Dennehl National Course in Kenosha, Wis.
The men’s 8K race will begin at 11 a.m. CT and the women’s 6K run will start at 11:50 a.m. Marquette University will serve as the championship host. It will be the second time the BIG EAST has conducted its championship at the Dennehl National Course after the initial meet in 2014.
The Providence women, who are ranked No. 7 in the latest USTFCCCA Poll, have won the last two BIG EAST titles and three of the last four, including the 2014 championship at Dannehl. The PC women won the 2014 race at Dennehl by a comfortable margin and had four runners break the previous meet record.
The Georgetown men, who are receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA poll, placed four runners in the top 10 of last year’s championship and finished with 33 points, comfortably ahead of second-place Villanova’s 65 points. Georgetown had six runners place in the top 12 of last year’s Championship.
Villanova had both individual winners in last year’s meet at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y. Patrick Tiernan set a conference record by winning his fourth straight individual BIG EAST crown with a time of 24:18.2. On the women’s side, Wildcat senior Angel Piccirillo won in a time of 20:49.
Historically, cross country is one of the BIG EAST’s most accomplished sports. Nationally, BIG EAST women’s teams have won four of the last eight NCAA national championships. Providence won the NCAA women’s title in 2013. Villanova has won nine NCAA women’s titles, the last coming in 2010.
The BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) will produce a Championship Recap show for BIGEAST.com, Facebook Live and the BIG EAST Youtube Page.
Women’s Preview
Providence has three runners who should be considered contenders for the individual crown. Graduate student Catarina Rocha finished second in the 2014 Championship. Senior Brianna Ilarda took third at last year’s BIG EAST meet and senior Millie Paladino was the top Friar at the recent Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, which always has a strong national field.
Villanova, which is ranked 15th nationally, may be the strongest challenger to the Providence women. It’s the Wildcats’ highest national ranking entering the BIG EAST Championship since 2011. Senior Siofra Cleirgh Buttner is the top Wildcat performer from last year and is expected to make her season debut at the BIG EAST meet. She was the BIG EAST runner-up last year and is coming off an appearance at the IAAF World Championships over the summer where she ran for Ireland. This fall, Villanova has been led by juniors Nichole Hutchinson and Bella Burda, who have each earned conference weekly honors this fall. Burda was ninth in the BIG EAST meet last year.
Last year, Georgetown finished solidly in third place. In the 2016 BIG EAST meet, juniors Kennedy Weisner, Autumn Eastman and Josette Norris finished 10th through 12th with freshman Paige Hofstad taking 14th. All are back for this year’s conference competition. The Hoya depth this fall extends to senior Piper Donaghu and sophomore Margie Cullen.
After finishing fourth last year, Butler will depend on sophomore Josephine Thestrup who finished seventh in last year’s meet, the best finish by a freshman.
Marquette took fifth place last year, moving up one place from two seasons ago. Senior Jennifer Parker is the top Golden Eagle returning to the BIG EAST, finishing 20th. Junior Jessica Parker was 30th last year. This fall, Jessica Parker won the Vic Godfrey Open held at the Dannehl Course.
Xavier was sixth last year. Senior Madeline Britton has been the top Musketeer finisher in the BIG EAST in the last two BIG EAST meets. She was 23rd last year. This fall, she set a school 5K record at the Queen City Invitational with a time of 17:25.9.
Creighton finished seventh for the second straight year. Although the Bluejays may not have the depth to be a serious team contender this year, they can point to junior Emily Martin for a strong individual performance. After finishing 24
th in last year’s BIG EAST competition, Martin has enjoyed a strong fall season, winning BIG EAST weekly honors twice.
St. John’s was eighth last year, moving up one spot from the 2015 Championship. Antonia Howard finished 13th last year at the BIG EAST meet and has been the Red Storm leader this fall.
DePaul finished ninth last year. This fall, junior Miranda Rea led the Blue Demons in every race. Her best finish was a fifth at the Vic Godfrey Open.
Seton Hall wants to move up from last year’s 10th-place finish. Junior Christiana Rutkowski, senior Emily Johnson along with freshmen Olivia and Emily Hernandez have been the top performers.
Men’s Preview
Georgetown is led by graduate student Jonathan Green, who has been the team leader this fall. Green missed last season’s BIG EAST Championship with an injury, but he was the BIG EAST runner-up in 2015 and went on to finish fifth in the NCAA Championship. The Hoyas have put an individual among the top 10 finishers at the NCAA Championship in each of the past two years.
Providence, which finished second to Georgetown last year, will feature a young team after the graduation of four of their top five runners from last year. Senior Aaron Hanlon will be aiming to reclaim his form from two years ago when he was All-BIG EAST and finished 14th. Juniors Michael O’Leary and Marcus Karamanolis hope to make the jump to be among the conference leaders this year.
Butler finished third behind Euan Makepeace, who took third individually last year as a freshman. He has not run a full schedule this fall, but has been focusing on the BIG EAST and NCAA meets. Makepeace is the highest finishing returnee in this year’s Championship. This fall, Makepeace has a win in the Commodore Classic. The Bulldogs had four other runners finish from 14th to 20th last year. Senior Bobby Johnson finished 14th in the conference meet last year and 20th in 2015.
Villanova wants to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish. The Wildcats placed second at the Main Line Invitational, third at the Penn State National Open and 14th at the Paul Short Run. The sophomore duo of Andrew Marston and Casey Comber leads a relatively young squad. At last year’s Championship, Marston finished seventh and Comber was 10th. The Villanova men have won six BIG EAST team crowns.
Marquette has finished fifth in each of the past two seasons. Last year, Alec Miller was the top finisher, placing 18th. Daniel Pederson took 25th. Both are the strongest Golden Eagles again this fall. Miller was second at the Flames/Flyers Invitational.
DePaul moved up to sixth last year after finishing eighth in 2015. This fall, senior Chris Korabik was the team’s top performer in three of the five races. His best race was a fourth-place finish in the Vic Godfrey Open, which was held at the Dennehl Course.
Creighton was seventh last year. This fall, the Bluejays have been led by senior Jacob Ohnstad, junior Spencer De Jong and sophomore Chase Howard. Ohnstad and Howard competed in last year’s BIG EAST meet.
Xavier took eighth place. This fall, the Musketeers have been led by senior Garrett Knapik, who is the squad’s top returning performer from last year’s BIG EAST meet.
Seton Hall was ninth last year and will lean on junior Jarod Moser and senior Jake Simon to try to improve the Pirates’ standing. Moser was the top finisher last year, placing 41st.