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Villanova women defend DMR title at Penn Relays

Solid effort from all four sprinters helps Wildcats hold off Kentucky to claim title of opening day's marquee event.

Villanova's Emily Lipari, center, who ran the anchor leg, is hugged by teammates Nicky Akande, right, and Angel Piccirillo as the Villanova won the College Women's  Distance Medley Championship at the Penn Relays on April 25, 2013.  ( CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer )
Villanova's Emily Lipari, center, who ran the anchor leg, is hugged by teammates Nicky Akande, right, and Angel Piccirillo as the Villanova won the College Women's Distance Medley Championship at the Penn Relays on April 25, 2013. ( CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer )Read more

THERE WAS a time when it seemed as if Villanova's women won just about every race they entered at the Penn Relays.

Particularly, the distance medley.

From, 1984-97, they won it nine times. Then, not so much. Last April, they finished first for the first time since 2006, and 11th time overall. Yesterday afternoon, they took the opening day's marquee event once again, easily, for their first repeat in nearly 2 decades.

"It's always a thrill," said coach Gina Procaccio, who was part of the '87 victory. "There's a lot of pressure, and a lot of expectations, for us to win [here]. That's why you hear [men's coach] Marcus [O'Sullivan] and I say, 'It's a fantastic time of year but it kind of isn't.' And this is really the most prestigious, because you're putting four different legs together.

"They want to keep the tradition alive."

The fact that former greats Vicki Huber and Michelle Bennett, along with their one-of-a-kind coach, "Uncle" Marty Stern, presented them with their watches only made it that much better.

"That was so cool," Procaccio smiled. "The icing on the cake."

It wasn't much of a race. Freshman Angel Piccirillo, who won on the Franklin Field track twice as a high-school miler, ran the opening 1,200 meters in 3 minutes, 21.8 seconds. That gave the Wildcats a slight edge over Kentucky, which had a tough anchor in Cally Macumber. But Macumber never got a chance.

Another freshman, Michaela Wilkins, followed with a 54.6 400, which left them just behind the other Wildcats. But junior Nicky Akande, as she'd done last year, provided plenty of separation with a 2:04.7 800. So junior Emily Lipari, who ran the 1,200 last year because Sheila Reid was still around to close things out, could pretty much cruise home in 4:37.7 over 1,600. Kentucky got second, ahead of Columbia, but was nearly 6 seconds behind Villanova's 10:58.84.

Michigan, which beat the Wildcats in the NCAA indoor championships last month, chose not to line up. Speculation is the Wolverines are gearing up for today's 4 x 1,500. The Wildcats will have everyone except Wilkins going in that and tomorrow's 4 x 800. So much for holding anything back. Hey, it's the Penn Relays.

"I would have liked to see [Michigan] again," Lipari said. "Yeah, it was [disappointing]. But it doesn't matter who's in the race. We were so fired up, to show Villanova's not done. Second hurts. That made this even more special."

Added Akande: "We were so close, but not close enough [at indoors]. That's rough. It kind of humbled us."

The Wildcats wrote the initials GF on their arms, without even telling anyone what they were going to do, to honor the memory of Gordon Finch, the university's associate athletic director in charge of compliance, who died last week at age 45.

"We wanted to support him the way he supported us," explained Lipari, who's disappointing leadoff 1,200 in 2011 is now nothing more than an afterthought.

The Wildcats haven't won more than once at the Penn Relays since '97, when they swept the middle-distance events, as well as the 4 x 400. They also tripled in 1995, '90 and '89. Who knows? They're going to try. It won't be easy. Oregon, another program with lots of talent, also stayed away from the DMR, perhaps to enhance its chances later.

"These girls are so fit this year, they're a lot stronger," Procaccio said. "Even though [Piccirillo] is a freshman, you tell her what she needs to do and she does it. I mean, it's OK. I tell them, 'We don't go to practice and run one interval and go home.' They're totally ready to do it."

It worked back then.

"We try to take it race by race, year by year," Akande said. "So this time it was more like, 'Can we do it again?' Last year, I think I was a bit young and naive. I just wanted to give Sheila the baton [in front]. Today, I took the old-school approach. I wanted to go out hard and keep it [going].

"I knew if Emily got it in the position she needed to, she would do what she had to do to win."

Their time was a little more than 10 seconds off the record that Villanova established in 1988. Doesn't matter. Just as nobody will remember or even care who was the competition. It's about getting to take a victory lap, at a meet that's merely a bus ride from campus.

"It's just different [this year]," Lipari said. "It's something Gina said before the race: clear mind, run with your heart. It doesn't matter what leg you're running. You're running for a team. It's much bigger than yourself."

On the Main Line, it always has been, even in those not-as-good times.