NEW YORK – Villanova's Tilly O'Connor and Butler's William Zegarski and Providence's Cormac Dixon earned BIG EAST Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors.  

O'Connor was Villanova's top finisher at the Pre-National Invitational in Columbia, Mo., finishing 15th overall in a time of 19:55.7 for the 6K course.  The Wildcats placed second as a team in the 38-team field.  Zegarski was Butler's top runner at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wis.  The redshirt junior clocked 23:36.1 for the 8K course, good for 14th place overall.  The Bulldogs placed eighth as a team.  Dixon's 23rd place finish at the Princeton Invitational led Providence, crossing the line in a time of 23:36.6 for 8K.  The Friars finished ninth as a team in a field of 31 teams.

BIG EAST Female Athlete of the Week

Tilly O'Connor, Villanova 
O’Connor was the top finisher for Villanova at the Pre-National Invitational in Columbia, Mo.  It marked her second straight sub-20 minute race and she has now been a scoring runner for the Wildcats in eight of her 11 career cross country starts.

BIG EAST Male Athletes of the Week

William Zegarski, Butler
Zegarski placed 14th at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wis., helping Butler to an eighth-place finish in a field of 10 nationally-ranked teams.  Zegarski covered the 8K course in a time of 23:16.1

Cormac Dixon, Providence
Dixon was the Friars' top runner at the Princeton Invitational, placing 23rd overall, crossing the line in a time of 23:36.6 for 8K.  The sophomore helped pace Providence to a ninth-place finish in the 31-team field.

Women's Notes – Villanova finished behind only the No. 1 team in the country and was ahead of four other nationally ranked teams at Pre-Nats...the Wildcats have finished first or second in all four of its competitions this season... Georgetown was sixth at Pre-Nationals, as Melissa Riggins finished 19th in a time of 20:13.9 for 6K...Providence placed 28th at Pre-Nats, led by Gabby Schmidt (21:06.9, 95th)...Chloe Trudel was UConn's top finisher at the Princeton Invitational, crossing the line in a personal-best 20:22.8 for 6K...the Huskies were fifth as a team...Creighton captured the team title at the Platte River Rumble, placing all five scorers in the top 10 of the race...the Bluejays' Atlee Wallman was third (22:00.13 6K)...DePaul was 16th at the Bradley Pink Invitational, crossing the line in 25th place (21:14.25)...St. John's finished 21st at the ECAC Championship at Van Cortlandt Park

Men's Notes – Butler bested 10 nationally-ranked teams at the Nuttycombe Invitational...Creighton captured the team title at the Platte River Rumble, led by Eli Moore's second place finish (25:27.33)...Georgetown placed 17th at Pre-Nationals, as Birhanu Harriman clocked 23:52.8 - good for 40th place...Three teams - DePaul, Marquette, and Xavier - raced at the Bradley Pink Invitational...DePaul was 13th with Mohamed Abdullahi running the second-fastest 8K time in program history (23:55.07)...Marquette was 15th as Nick Parrell was 54th overall (25:06.54)...Xavier placed 16th and Harrison Cunningham placed 57th in a time of 25:09.36

In The Polls – Currently, two BIG EAST men's teams and two women's squads are among the top 30 on the 2025 national poll, released on Oct. 7.  For the men, Butler is No. 14 and Georgetown is No. 30. On the women's side, Georgetown checks in at No. 10, followed by Villanova at No. 14.

Several BIG EAST teams are featured among the regional rankings, released on Oct. 6.  For the women, Providence ranks second in the Northeast, followed by UConn in fourth.  Georgetown and Villanova and are second and fourth, respectively, in the Mid-Atlantic, while Xavier is 11th in the Great Lakes.  On the men's rankings, Georgetown and Villanova are second and fifth, respectively in the Mid-Atlantic, while Butler sits in second in the Great Lakes. Providence and UConn are fourth and sixth, respectively in the Northeast.