KENOSHA, Wis. (October 26, 2023) – The Georgetown women’s team will be aiming for its fourth straight title and the Villanova men will look to make it two in a row at the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships Presented by JEEP to be held at Wayne Dannehl Course in Kenosha, Wis., on Saturday, Oct. 28.

The men’s race begins at noon ET/11 a.m. CT and the women’s race starts at 12:50p.m./11:50 a.m.  The Wayne Dannehl Course will be the championship venue for the fourth time. The BIG EAST also staged its championship there in 2019, 2017 and 2013.

Last year, the Georgetown women cruised to a comfortable victory by placing five runners in the top 10. On the men’s side, Villanova also had five in the top 10 to capture its title.

In the latest USTFCCCA polls, the Georgetown women are ranked third. On the men’s side, Villanova is No. 10, Georgetown is No. 29 and Butler is No. 30.

The broadcast of the BIG EAST Cross Country Championship Presented by JEEP is being produced by the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports Presented by Invesco QQQ.  Justin Corrigan and Ethan Berch will call the action.

To watch the races live on FloSports, click HERE

To view the live results/times, click HERE

Men’s Preview
Villanova enters the BIG EAST Championships with a top 10 national ranking for the first time since 2014. The Wildcats have tested themselves against strong competition at the Virginia Invitational and the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. Senior Liam Murphy was the Wildcats’ top finisher at each of those meets and is the reigning Mid-Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year in cross country. He is one of three returning All-BIG EAST performers for the Wildcats from last season along with fifth-year Haftu Strintzos and sophomore Marco Langon.

Providence was the men’s runner-up last fall. The top finisher was Marcelo Rocha, who finished sixth. This year, Liam Beck, Michael Morgan and Abdel Laadjel will lead the Friar men. Beck placed second (18:26.4) at the Friar Invitational before finishing 58th (24:03.3) at the Virginia Invitational and 63^rd (24:11.60) at the Nuttycombe Invitational. Morgan placed 66th at the Virginia Invitational in a time of 24:09.8 and finished 97^th at the Nuttycombe Invitational. Laadjel won the Friar Invitational in a time of 18:03.6 and finished 60th at the Virginia Invitational.

Georgetown is led by Parker Stokes, who finished fourth in last year’s BIG EAST meet and sixth in 2021. He is coming off a 41^st-place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational. Junior Matt Rizzo finished 54^th. Last year, the Hoyas took third in the team standings. In the last nine years, the Hoyas have won four titles and have finished second four times.

Butler had its best performance of the fall at the Virginia Invitational when the Bulldogs finished eighth among a nationally-elite field. The Bulldogs have been led by graduate transfer Florian Le Pallec, who finished ninth in the Virginia Invitational, which was his Butler debut. He also posted a Top 50 finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational. Butler won the BIG EAST team championship in the spring of 2021 (pushed back from the fall of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2021. Barry Keane won the BIG EAST individual title in 2022, leading the Bulldogs to a fourth-place finish. He exhausted his eligibility, but the Bulldogs do return 2022 All-BIG EAST performers Matthew Forrester and Jesse Hamlin.

DePaul The Blue Demons will be aiming to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish. Tommy Elwood has been their standout performer this fall. He is coming off a 22^nd-place finish at the Bradley Pink Classic, which he improved his time on the same course three minutes from the previous year.

Creighton was sixth last year after four straight eighth-place finishes. The program’s best finish since joining the BIG EAST in 2013 was fifth in 2014. Marcos Gonzalez has been the top CU finisher in all three of his races this fall, including a fourth at the Platte River Rumble. Gonzalez set the CU 8K record last season (24:340), only to have it broken one meet later by teammate Tommy Ward (24:33), who qualified for NCAA Regionals in Track & Field in the 800 meters in the spring.

Xavier is led by junior Trevor Nolan, who was named the BIG EAST Male Athlete of the Week twice this season. He is coming off a win at the Falcon Invite on Oct. 13 by posting the 10^th fastest time in school history (24:48.6). It was his first individual title as a collegian.

Marquette is coming off its best outing of the fall, placing fifth at the Platte River Rumble hosted by Creighton. The team is led by a pair of seniors, David Zeller and Dan Weizeorick. Weizorick finished inside the top-20 in two of his three fall events, while Zeller paced the Golden Eagles in his last race and finished a fall-best 14th individually.
 
Seton Hall took second place in the Metropolitan Championships recently at Branch Brook Park. Stephen Beaman paced The Hall with a ninth place finish overall in 25:47.20, with Logan Brunozzi and Jeffrey Grynaviski also clocking top-20 times overall.

Women’s Preview
Georgetown will be pursuing its fourth straight BIG EAST Championship. The Hoyas captured third place in the loaded Nuttycombe invitational. All-American Chloe Scrimgeour finished seventh individually. Melissa Riggins took 15^th. All five Hoyas finished in the top 75. Scrimgeour also took second place at the Virginia Invitational. She earned BIG EAST Female Athlete of the Week twice this fall. Last year, she finished eighth in the NCAA 5,000 meters. The last BIG EAST team to win four straight women’s titles was Villanova (2008-11).

Providence junior Kimberley May was the top PC finisher in the last three races. May won the Friar Invitational in 13:56.2. She also finished 10^th overall (16:34.8) at the Virginia Invitational. At the Nuttycombe Invite, May finished 19^th with a time of 20:17.50. Senior Shannon Flockhart finished second in the last two meets. Flockhart placed 36^th (17:00.2) at the Virginia Invitational and 45^th (20:41.50) at Nuttycombe. Fellow senior Laura Mooney was fifth overall at the Friar Invitational in a time of 14:14.0. Sophomore Jane Buckley, who is the reigning BIG EAST champion from last season, is not competing in this year’s championship.

Connecticut finished third last year for the second straight season. This fall, The Huskies wrapped up their final regular season race with strong results at the Arturo Barrios Invitational at Watts Cross Country Course. Individually, Chloe Thomas led the Huskies with another strong performance, finishing seventh with a personal best time of 19:49.5. That made it her third consecutive race with a personal record and her third consecutive top 7 finish. Jenna Zydanowicz was 11^th with a personal best time of 19:57.7.  

Villanova has been led by the junior quartet of Sadie Sigfstead, Emma McGill, Emily Robinson and Margaret Carroll. Sigfstead was a top-five finisher at the BIG EAST meet two years ago and has made a strong return this fall after redshirting in 2022. The Wildcats have been a team on the rise after a fourth-place finish at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown and a strong result at the XC-23 Pre-Nationals in Virginia. Sigfstead has been VU’s top finisher in all three of her starts and has not finished lower than eighth overall this season.

Butler will be led by Wiktoria Klebowska, Abby Olson and Elsa Rusthoven, the top three Bulldog finishers in each of the team’s meets this fall. Klebowska was named BIG EAST Female Athlete of the Week after winning the season-opening Vic Godfrey Open on the same Dannehal Cross Country Course. Olson is BU’s top returning finisher from the 2022 BIG EAST Championships, when she placed 27^th. As a team, the Bulldogs were fifth in 2022.

DePaul  Graduate student Olivia Borowiak has been the Blue Demons’ anchor for the past few seasons. She is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Bradley Pink Classic. DePaul finished sixth in the BIG EAST last year.  

Xavier sophomore Jamie Klavon posted a runner-up finish in the Women's 6K Race at the recent Falcon Invite, posting a time of 21:08.70 - the 10th fastest time in program history. The Musketeers were seventh in the BIG ESAT last year.

Marquette is led by senior Lexi Keppler, who finished 24th in her last race with a personal best time of 22:57.0 at the Platte River Rumble hosted by Creighton. She has led the Golden Eagles in every race this fall. Freshmen Emma Coon and Brinley Everson finished second and third for MU in Omaha, both with personal best times. 

Creighton senior Danielle Hotalling has been the top Bluejay finisher in all 24 races of her career and is coming off a fourth place finish at the Platte River Rumble, where she ran personal-best 6K time of 21:18.55. She placed 18^th the last time this race was in Kenosha. Last year, when Hotalling redshirted, the top CU finisher was Morgan Koca (46^th). Last year, CU finished eighth, one spot better than in 2021.

St. John’s earned a first-place finish at the recent Metropolitan Cross Country Championships, an event which dates to 1985. All eight runners for St. John's notched top-50 finishes, seven of which recorded personal-best 5K times. Nia Holden and Gabriella Caronia each logged career-best times of 18:29.05 and 18:35.48, finishing 11^th and 15^th, respectively. Sophomore Ezgi Yasar posted her third straight 5K time of 19:40 or better. 

Seton Hall took third place in the Metropolitan Championships and fifth in the Highlander Invitational. Both Paige Smith and Paige Quigley secured top-10 finishes in the METS Championships, taking ninth and 10th, respectively.