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TSR's 2024 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Men): #16 Villanova Wildcats
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Aug 17, 2024
- 8 min read
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On certain occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
Villanova is a team known for their middle distance success. Their countless years of developing elite-level milers while boasting some of the best 800-meter and 1500-meter depth in the nation has been exceptionally impressive.
And yet, maybe the more impressive aspect of the Wildcats' program is the fact that they can still find success in the longer distances, specifically cross country, while maintaining their quick-turnover focus on the track.
This year, we expect the Villanova men to continue to be legitimate threats on the grass, even if they lose a crucial low-stick from last fall. That will, however, require the team's last few recruiting classes to take the next step up in their fitness over the next few months.
* * *
The 2023 cross country season was full of hope and excitement for the Wildcats. Although they had lost a few key scorers from a year before, last fall felt like a fantastic opportunity for certain individuals to step up while the rest of the team continued to develop for future seasons.
One of those men who was ready to take that next step was Marco Langon, a then-sophomore who had quietly found great success on the track leading up to last year. He would be joined by low-stick ace Liam Murphy as well as aerobic-centric veteran Haftu Strintzos to form a "Big Three" of sorts throughout last fall.
We would see Villanova's scoring Cyberus first debut at the Virginia Invitational where the initial results were highly encouraging.
Liam Murphy posted a huge 7th place finish, a result that was arguably a bit better than we were expecting to see. That potent low-stick effort was complemented by two fantastic runs from Haftu Strintzos (11th) and Marco Langon (12th).
Through three runners, Villanova was having an incredible race. However, their depth is admittedly where we saw a drop-off. Graduate transfer Xian Shively finished in 59th place (which was actually a fairly solid result for the middle distance runner) while Haverford transfer Ryan Kredell took 90th overall.
Despite the backend gaps, the Wildcats still hung on to secure an excellent 5th place finish, matching our high expectations and further proving how effective their top-heavy lineup could be.
Fast forward to the Nuttycombe Invite and the scoring structure of the team looked a bit different. Murphy (21st) was great yet again while Strintzos (52nd) had a slight "off" day, but still put together a serviceable result.
However, instead of Langon securing the third scoring spot for Villanova, it was former D3 runner, Ryan Kredell, who stepped up in a major way, placing 77th overall. That result was arguably the most important performance that the Wildcats had that day as it stabilized a lineup that would have otherwise had tons of volatility.
Langon (110th) struggled a bit while Shively (116th) did enough to get by and close out the team's scoring relatively quickly. In the end, that was enough to give Villanova an admirable 9th place finish.
One could argue that the Wildcats' performance at the Nuttycombe Invite was worse than what they put together at the Virginia Invitational. But if 'Nova was able to find that much success with Langon not firing on all cylinders, then that was still a fairly good sign.
Unfortunately, things wouldn't get much easier at the BIG East XC Championships. While the Butler men looked like a strong and formidable team, it was the Wildcats who were favored to take home conference gold.
Or at least, that's how it was supposed to go.
Murphy and Strintzos going 1-2, while not surprising, was huge. If the Wildcats were going to win, then those two men needed to sweep the top-two spots. However, between that duo and Langon (7th), Butler packed the results with three men of their own. And with the Wildcats wrapping up their scoring via 15th place and 17th place finishes, there wasn't enough depth to fend off a gritty pack of Bulldog scorers.
In turn, Butler would secure the BIG East conference title over Villanova by a six-point margin.
After cruising through the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships, the Wildcats repositioned themselves for the national meet. There, they would hope to truly reunite their Murphy-Strintzos-Langon trio in an effort to lead their team to a top-10 finish.
That, however, did not happen.
Murphy (14th) was absolutely brilliant with his performance and Strintzos (38th) concluded what turned out to be a great fall campaign. On paper, things were going very well for Villanova through two scorers.
The only issue, however, is that Villanova didn't have another runner cross the line until Langon finished in 146th place. With the team's final two scorers fading to 182nd and 197th, the men of the Main Line faded to a truthfully underwhelming 20th place team finish.
* * *
We'll admit, last year's team relied heavily on their main low-sticks, specifically Liam Murphy and Haftu Strintzos. Those men always had to run well in order for this group to have a chance at being competitive with some of the top squads in the NCAA. And thankfully, they delivered each and every time.
Of course, the elephant in the room is that Strintzos is out of cross country eligibility. That is a crushing blow for a group that put so much scoring investment in their top men. Without Strintzos, there is going to be a fairly substantial gap that could decimate Villanova's team score if not adequately filled.
Not only that, but the Wildcats are also losing a slew of backend scorers/contributors from last year's team. Those departures includes Xian Shively, Ryan Kredell and Henry Myers. Sure, those men weren't exactly making headlines in the scoring, but all things considered, they did enough to get by and ensure that this team remained nationally competitive. Shively and Kredell were quietly very valuable during the regular season.
So...how does this team still remain in the top-20 portion of our rankings?
Well, thankfully, Liam Murphy is set to return. He was beyond excellent last fall and only got better as the season progressed. There isn't a whole lot more that he can do in order to benefit his team mathematically, but that should just go to show how valuable he is.
But truthfully, we already know what we're getting out of Murphy. He's the name who we need to worry about the least. Instead, it's Marco Langon who will be the true determinant of what this team's floor is in 2024.
Langon showed at the Virginia Invitational last fall that he can be a true low-stick. Placing 12th on that stage was huge. However, the rest of his cross country season truthfully underwhelmed. He wasn't great at the Nuttycombe Invite, he was just okay at the BIG East XC Championships and he faded a good bit at the NCAA XC Championships.
And yet, it is so abundantly clear that Langon is capable of being just as good as Strintzos was last fall -- maybe even better. That's because the Villanova runner had a fantastic year on the track this past winter and spring, running times of 7:43 (3k) and 13:28 (5k). He also advanced to the indoor and outdoor national meets in those events, respectively.
We still need to see further growth from Langon. Not necessarily in his fitness, but in his ability to be more consistent and to be truly competitive on the national stage. Thankfully, last year was a good way for him to prove that he belonged among the best.
Now, as he prepares for this fall, his ability to be a top-tier low-stick will be instrumental to how much success his team has in the coming months.
* * *
It seems as though Villanova still has an excellent 1-2 punch that can carry them in the scoring. Of course, Murphy and Langon can only do so much heavy lifting. While that duo will set the baseline of how good this team can be, it's the backend of this squad that will determine how high this team can fly.
Devon Comber, who is the brother of Under Armour pro Casey Comber, is an experienced veteran who has begun to piece together some quietly great races. He ran sneaky-good times of 3:42 (1500) and 13:45 (5k) this past spring. And while his cross country accolades aren't nearly as strong, one could argue that Comber had not yet had his breakout season last October and November.
We feel somewhat confident that Comber is going to be a scorer for this team in 2024 -- we just don't know to what extent or how often that will be.
There is also a chance that we see Sean Donoghue, a 3:55 miler who had great success earlier this summer, enter this lineup. That feels unlikely given his lack of involvement on the grass, but the Wildcats may need him as they attempt to fill out their lineup, especially if certain underclassmen are redshirted.
Joining Comber in this projected supporting cast will likely be a large batch of fresh faces from the Wildcats' last few star-studded recruiting classes.
One of those men is Ben Thomas, someone who is admittedly more of a middle distance runner. The Australian metric mile superstar is an absolute juggernaut over 1500 meters, boasting a blistering 3:37 PR for that distance. He's also run 8:16 for 3000 meters.
Truthfully, there's a good chance that Thomas isn't even part of Villanova's cross country lineup this fall and there's also a good chance that he's redshirted. Even so, we couldn't just ignore the raw talent and potential of a 19-year old who has run a jaw-dropping time of 3:37.
Bailey Habler is another Australian youngster who has the potential to make some noise. He came over to the team last year, but has yet to race since joining the Wildcats. That, however, isn't unusual for Villanova underclassmen -- Coach Marcus O'Sullivan has been known to redshirt his athletes early and often to let them develop for a year.
With personal bests of 3:47 (1500) and 8:15 (3k), from 2022 and 2023, respectively, Habler holds tremendous potential given his youth. And with a highly valuable block of training now under his belt, the redshirt rookie could be due for a solid fall campaign assuming he's healthy and firing on all cylinders.
But what if I told you that there is yet another distance-centric Aussie who is part of this incoming recruiting class?
I am, of course, talking about Jack Coomber. With times of 8:22 (3k) and 14:10 (5k), the Brisbane native could also provide depth and scoring value if his assimilation to the collegiate level goes smoothly. Of course, it's also possible that he will be sidelined as a redshirt athlete.
Yet another overseas talent coming to Villanova this fall is Jack Fenlon. The Irishman has run subtly excellent marks of 3:48 (1500), 8:05 (3k) and 14:01 (5k). Those string of times is extremely promising for a cross country team that needs depth and instant impact help. And while Fenlon could also be redshirted, his talent may be too good to ignore as the Wildcats' attempt to fill out their lineup.
The Villanova men also had a fairly strong group of distance recruits from the Class of 2023. However, for the most part, we haven't seen those men in action much. Although, it would surprise us if we didn't see at least one of those men crack this team's top-seven later this fall.
* * *
Structurally, Villanova's 2024 lineup shouldn't look all that different compared to their 2023 group. They will almost certainly have a lethal 1-2 punch, but their depth will be the one aspect that simply needs to be good enough to get by.
That, of course, is exactly why we have this group listed at TSR #16 in our preseason rankings. While we don't think that they'll be quite as potent as they were in 2023, there are still two star-caliber names who the Wildcats to lean on. Meanwhile, Comber and the young guys just need to keep their team propped up.
Those latter men don't need to be superstar scorers, but they do need to stabilize the middle and backend portions of this varsity group in an effort avoid excessive point scoring.
But what if certain underclassmen aren't redshirted? And what happens if one or two of Villanova's overseas additions make a big jump and provide an instant impact? If that happens, then the Wildcats could end up being just as good as they were last year.
And in that scenario, this preseason ranking will be flat-out wrong.
