Villanova University Women's Cross Country

Gina Procaccio is in her 25th season as the head coach of the Villanova women’s track & field and cross country teams in 2024-25. She has been associated with the Wildcats for more than three decades as a student-athlete and coach, and throughout her career has built upon a strong foundation of excellence while strengthening every facet of a program that perennially ranks among the nation’s best. In addition to being the head coach of the women’s cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field teams, Procaccio specifically coaches the women’s distance runners.   Villanova has won two national championships during Procaccio’s head coaching tenure – consecutive cross country titles in 2009 and 2010 – and has tallied a total of 15 top 20 team finishes at the NCAA Championships in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. No other Division I program has come close to matching the Wildcats level of national success in cross country. Villanova has won a record nine national championships, with Procaccio a part of the four most recent NCAA titles as either an assistant coach or head coach.   Achieving team success at the NCAA Championships is a hallmark for any program. Procaccio has guided the Wildcats to six top 10 team finishes in cross country, three top 20 finishes indoors and two top 20 outdoor finishes as a head coach. On the conference level, the numbers are even more staggering. Villanova has won 17 BIG EAST team titles under Procaccio’s watch, including six each in cross country and indoor track & field as well as five outdoor conference crowns. Add in another nine team runner-up trophies and Procaccio has led the Wildcats to a total of 26 podium finishes at the conference championships.   On an individual level, the Villanova women’s track & field and cross country student-athletes have made a name for themselves worldwide and Procaccio’s distance runners have been All-Americans more than 100 times (103) and have won 174 individual events at the BIG EAST Championships.   Procaccio has coached individual NCAA champions in cross country, the mile and the distance medley relay indoors, as well as the 1500 meters, 3000 meters and 5000 meters outdoors. In 1999 while serving as an assistant coach for the Wildcats and working with the women’s distance runners, she helped Carrie Tollefson become the first person to sweep the outdoor NCAA titles in the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters in the same year. Villanova made history again in 2011 when Sheila Reid was the first to win the outdoor 1500 meters and 5000 meters at the NCAA Championships in the same season.   Reid was additionally a two-time individual NCAA cross country champion in consecutive years in 2010 and 2011, with her first championship in 2010 coinciding with the Wildcats winning the team title. Procaccio has also mentored NCAA champions indoors in the 3000 meters (Tollefson, 1999); the mile (Carmen Douma, 2000 and Emily Lipari, 2014); and the distance medley relay (Lipari, Christie Verdier, Ariann Neutts and Reid in 2011).   Success at the Penn Relays – the largest and most historic track & field meet in the world – has defined the Wildcats track & field programs for decades. Procaccio has guided Villanova to 18 titles at the meet during her head coaching career, including 17 Championship of America relay winners and heralded “distance triples” in 2014, 2017 and 2018 when the Wildcats swept the 4x800 meter relay, 4x1500 meter relay and distance medley relay.   It is beyond the conference and NCAA arenas that Procaccio has achieved some of her greatest successes as a mentor to Wildcats student-athletes. Six of her distance runners have gone on to represent their countries in the Summer Olympics. Her first two Olympians were Carrie Tollefson (United States) and Carmen Douma (Canada) who each competed in the 1500 meters at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Villanova was represented by Marina Muncan (Serbia) in the 1500 meters and Sheila Reid (Canada) in the 5000 meters at the 2012 Olympics in London, as well as by Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (Ireland) in the 800 meters and Summer Cook (United States) in the triathlon at the 2020 Olympics (moved to 2021) in Tokyo.   Villanova distance runners have won four Honda Sports Awards as the top collegiate women’s athlete in their sport, with Reid a three-time winner (2010-11 cross country, 2010-11 track & field, 2011-12 cross country) and Tollefson winning the 1998-99 cross country award. In 2011, Reid was one of three finalists for the Honda-Broderick Cup which is presented to The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year spanning all three NCAA Divisions and all collegiate women’s sports.   In the two years before being named head coach (1998-99 and 1999-00), Procaccio was an assistant coach on the Wildcats staff and was responsible for coaching the women’s distance runners. During that time the women’s cross country team won the 1998 NCAA title, while the indoor track & field and outdoor track & field teams each posted consecutive top-15 NCAA finishes in 1999 and 2000. The indoor squad placed 11th at the NCAA Championships in 1999 and moved up to fifth in 2000, while the outdoor team finished eighth at the NCAA Championships in 1999 and 15th a year later.   Procaccio has instilled in her student-athletes the importance of a complete collegiate experience which includes excellence in academics and a focus on service within the campus community and beyond. In 2020-21, the Wildcats swept the BIG EAST Team Academic Excellence Award in both indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. The honor is presented to the BIG EAST team with the highest team GPA in their sport. Villanova has also had seven winners of the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award which is presented annually to one student-athlete in each conference sport who has excelled at a high level in both academics and athletics.   Additional conference honors for the Wildcats under Procaccio’s watch include Caroline Hamilton being the first Villanova student-athlete to win the Michael Tranghese Postgraduate Leadership Award in 2017. The honor is presented to just two BIG EAST student-athletes spanning all sports and comes with a $5,000 scholarship that can be applied to graduate studies.   On a national level, Villanova was the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Scholar Team of the Year in cross country in both of its national championship seasons in 2009 and 2010. Sheila Reid was a three-time USTFCCCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year in cross country (2010, 2011) and outdoor track & field (2011).   Two of Procaccio’s student-athletes – Nicole Schappert in 2010 and Stephanie Schappert in 2015 – have earned prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, while in 2016 Bella Burda was the NCAA Elite 90 winner for Division I women’s cross country. The latter award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average at the site of each NCAA Championships competition. Reid and Burda were named Academic All-Americans during their Villanova careers and the Wildcats have had more than 175 selections to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams in cross country and track & field during Procaccio’s head coaching career   At the end of each academic year, Villanova Athletics presents the Nnenna Lynch Award to the varsity sport with the highest team GPA for the year. The award is named for the first Rhodes Scholar in Villanova University history – former women’s distance runner Nnenna Lynch – and either the women’s track & field or women’s cross country squads have won this honor 12 times during Procaccio’s tenure. The women’s track & field team has also had nine winners of Villanova’s top athletic honor, the Senior Student-Athlete of the Year award.   Procaccio is a 1987 graduate of Villanova who was a part of world record relay performances in 1987 and 1988. In 1987, she ran the leadoff leg of the 4x800 meter relay on a team which set a world, American and collegiate record with a winning time of 8:24.72 at the indoor NCAA Championships. Procaccio also ran the 800 meter leg of the distance medley relay on a team which set a world record with a time of 11:00.76 on February 2, 1987. Procaccio achieved individual success at the 1988 NCAA Championships where she earned All-America honors in the 1000 meters and set a school record with a time of 2:42.68. The mark would stand for nearly 29 years and wasn’t broken until one of Procaccio’s own student-athletes – Angel Piccirillo – set an NCAA record with a time of 2:40.82 on February 27, 2016 at the BIG EAST Championships.   Procaccio went on to have success on the international stage beyond her collegiate career. She competed in three World Championships, including in 1995 when she qualified for the final in the 5000 meters in the same year she was the United States champion in the event. Procaccio qualified for four U.S. Olympic Team Trials and finished as high as third at the USATF Cross Country Championships. During her prolific racing career, Procaccio won six individual Penn Relays watches and is the only athlete to win the Pen Relays women’s mile or 1500 meters five times as a pro. She was inducted onto the Penn Relays Wall of Fame in 2015.   In her most successful professional season in 1995, Procaccio became a United States champion for the first time and was ranked first in the country in the 3000 meters as well as being ranked in the top five nationally in both the 5000 meters (second) and the 1500 meters (fifth). It was during that year however, that Procaccio’s career was cut short by injury just before the 1996 Olympics when she would have had her best chance at becoming an Olympian. To this day, Procaccio views the lessons learned from dealing with her injury setback as powerful coaching tools when it comes to mentoring her student-athletes to achieve their full potential.     Procaccio had a great deal of success during two stints as a Villanova assistant coach (1994-97 and 1998-00) prior to being named the women’s track & field and cross country head coach on June 7, 2000. She was part of a coaching staff that helped lead the Wildcats to 10 individual national titles from 1994-00, including a national champion in cross country, five indoor national championships and four outdoor national titles.   In Procaccio’s first stint on the Villanova staff, Jen Rhines was the individual national champion in cross country in 1994 when the Wildcats won their record sixth straight NCAA team title. Rhines captured national championships in the 5000 meters both indoors and outdoors in 1995 and repeated as the outdoor champion in 1996. In all, Procaccio worked with 40 All-Americans during her assistant coaching stints. Additionally, she helped Villanova sweep the Championship of America distance relays in both 1995 and 1997 at the Penn Relays to go along with a 4x1500 meter relay title in 2000.   Prior to joining the Wildcats coaching staff, Procaccio spent one year as a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 1987-88 and one year as an assistant coach at Georgetown in 1990-91.

Anthony Williams is the longest-tenured member of the current Villanova track & field coaching staff. He is in his 31st season with the Wildcats in 2024-25 and begins his 22nd year as the associate head coach of both the men’s and women’s track & field programs. Williams specifically coaches the Villanova sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers. He is the meet director for all Villanova home meets and for many years has directed the various camps and clinics that the Wildcats host throughout the season.   In more than three decades on campus, Williams has been instrumental in helping Villanova maintain its place of national prominence in track & field. He works with both the men’s and women’s student-athletes and, during his tenure, has helped the Wildcats tally seven top 10 team finishes at the NCAA Championships. Villanova has scored team points at the indoor NCAA Championships 44 times during Williams’ career (24 women, 20 men) as well as 37 times outdoors (19 women, 18 men). At the BIG EAST level, Williams has helped the Wildcats win 24 team titles at the conference championships indoors and outdoors (15 women’s conference titles, nine men’s titles).   On an individual level, Williams’ student-athletes have garnered 58 All-America honors and won 105 individual events at the BIG EAST Championships to go along with another 41 conference relay titles. Villanova’s performance in the sprints, hurdles and jumps stood out in particular during the 2023-24 indoor and outdoor seasons. At the 2024 indoor conference championships, Williams’ group scored 49.5 women’s points and 39.5 men’s points. The point totals were even higher at the outdoor BIG EAST meet which the Wildcats hosted. Williams’ athletes scored 66.5 women’s points and 45 men’s points at the meet.   In recent seasons, Williams has mentored women’s high jumpers Sanaä Barnes and Roschell Clayton who have completely rewritten the Villanova record book in their signature event. The pair has combined for eight All-America honors in the high jump and they each have tallied multiple top-eight NCAA finishes. Barnes and Clayton combine to hold each of the 21 best marks in school history in the high jump. Clayton is the current school record holder at 1.88 meters set on two occasions in 2024; Barnes held the previous mark of 1.87 meters set at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2021.   Williams also guided triple jumper Malik Cunningham to All-America finishes at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships. He was a first team All-American at the 2023 outdoor championships with a seventh place finish and is one of only three athletes in school history to surpass 16 meters in the triple jump. Two of those three triple jumpers to surpass 16 meters are Cunningham and Jermaine Deans, a three-time BIG EAST champion under Williams’ tutelage. Cunningham and Deans are both products of the same Jamaican high school program that Williams himself came out of during his own athletic career.   One of the Villanova stars of the 2023-24 seasons was sprinter and hurdler Jane Livingston, who was the women’s individual high point scorer at the BIG EAST Championships both indoors and outdoors. She swept the BIG EAST titles indoors in the 60 meters and the 60 meter hurdles, then did the same outdoors in the 100 meters and the 100 meter hurdles. Livingston is only the second athlete in more than 40 years of BIG EAST history to win all four of those events in the same year.   Livingston followed in the footsteps of sprinter Trudy-Ann Williamson, who was the Co-Outstanding Track Performer and tied for the women’s highest point scorer at the 2019 indoor BIG EAST Championships where she was a double winner in the 60 meters and the 200 meters. Williams set school records in the 60 meters and the 100 meters during her collegiate career and still holds each of the 10 fastest times in the 60 meters in the Wildcats record book as of the end of the 2024 campaign.   Villanova has had consistent success on a national level in each of the disciplines that Williams coaches. He helped men’s sprinter Samuel Ellison develop into a seven-time All-American and a two-time BIG EAST 800 meter champion. Ellison tallied first team All-America finishes in the 800 meters both indoors (sixth, 2014) and outdoors (eighth, 2012) during his collegiate career, then went on to continue his career professionally after he earned a prestigious Fulbright scholarship which he used to study at the University of Birmingham in England.   At the 2014 outdoor NCAA Championships, Willams coached a pair of All-Americans in Ellison and long jumper Elbert Maxwell who made his debut at the national meet in a year that saw him sweep the BIG EAST indoor and outdoor titles in the long jump.   In women’s track & field, the 60 meter hurdles and 100 meter hurdles have been among the top events for Villanova throughout Williams’ coaching career. He has coached 10 BIG EAST champions in each of those events, while on the men’s side Williams has mentored a combined 25 conference champions in the 400 meters and the 400 meter hurdles. His student-athletes have produced more BIG EAST gold medals (13) in the 400 meter hurdles than in any other event. The list of champions includes Kareem Archer (1996-98) and Drew Eckman (2004-06) who each won the event in three consecutive seasons during their careers.   Williams came to Villanova in 1994-95 and quickly achieved national success in his early years on the coaching staff. Archer was a four-time All-American and a six-time BIG EAST champion for the Wildcats whose top NCAA finishes were third place results in the 400 meter hurdles in both 1997 and 1998. His success helped pave the way for Nic O’Brien to follow in his footsteps, and O’Brien became a two-time All-American in the 400 meter hurdles in 2002 and 2003.   On the women’s side, Charmaine Walker was a three-time All-American indoors, beginning with a seventh place finish in the 55 meter hurdles in 1998. She went on to place sixth in the 60 meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships in each of the next two seasons. Walker was also a six-time BIG EAST champion, winning three conference titles in the hurdles both indoors and outdoors. She and Archer have each been inducted into the Villanova University Varsity Club Hall of Fame.   In the early 2000’s, sprinters Mike Brown and O’Brien were each national champions as part of the Villanova lineup in the distance medley relay which won consecutive NCAA titles in 2002 and 2003. Brown was a BIG EAST champion in the 400 meters indoors and the 400 meter hurdles outdoors to go along with winning an individual Penn Relays title in the 400 meter hurdles in 2000. Carlos Bedoya was a three-time BIG EAST champion in the 200 meters, winning the indoor title twice (2002, 2004) and the outdoor title once (2003).   From 2005-07, Monique Morgan was a two-time All-American and a three-time BIG EAST champion in the hurdles. She finished in eighth place indoors in the 60 meter hurdles in 2007 as well as outdoors in the 100 meter hurdles one year earlier. Morgan went on to have an extremely successful professional career and won the Jamaican national title in the 100 meter hurdles in 2014. That victory qualified her for the Jamaican team which represented the country later that summer at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Morgan had previously been a gold medalist at the Central American and Caribbean senior track & field championships in 2013.   Two of the most prominent Villanova men’s sprinters during Williams’ coaching tenure are Elvis Lewis and Drew Eckman, teammates during their time as Wildcats who combined to win 13 BIG EAST titles. Lewis was the BIG EAST indoor 400 meters champion for three straight years from 2007-09 and also won the event three times outdoors in 2006, 2007 and 2009. Eckman was the indoor BIG EAST champion in the 500 meters in 2006 to go along with his three outdoor titles in the 400 meter hurdles. Lewis and Eckman were a part of gold medal winning 4x400 meter relays at the BIG EAST Championships both indoors and outdoors in 2006.   More recently, Willams coached Shericka Ward to three All-America finishes in the hurdles in 2011 and 2012. She came in seventh in the 60 meter hurdles at the indoor NCAA Championships in 2012 to claim first team All-America honors, while she twice earned second team honors in the 100 meter hurdles outdoors. Ward set school records in the 200 meters both indoors and outdoors during her Villanova career. The absolute and outdoor mark of 23.30 set on May 7, 2011 at the BIG EAST Championships still stands as the Wildcats mark to beat.   The success of Williams’ student-athletes in collegiate competition has been a springboard to their continued success internationally. His athletes have represented the national teams of the United States, Jamaica, Barbados and Ecuador among others. In recent seasons Ellison and Barnes have competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, and Clayton made her debut at the Jamaica National Senior Championships in 2024.   A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Williams competed collegiately at Blinn College (Texas) and Ole Miss. He was the captain of two national championship teams at Blinn College and earned junior college All-America accolades in the sprint events as well as the triple jump. At Ole Miss, Williams earned All-SEC honors and was named to the Dean’s List for his academic success.   Williams earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Ole Miss with a major in management in 1990. Following his graduation, he continued to excel in competition at the international level. He was the Jamaican national champion in the triple jump and went on to be a part of several Jamaican national teams.   Prior to his arrival at Villanova, Williams began his coaching career at Plainfield (N.J.) High School where he was a volunteer coach for the school’s jumpers.

Marcus O’Sullivan is in his 27th year as the Frank J. Kelly Endowed Track & Field Coach in 2024-25. He is charged with oversight of the Villanova track & field and cross country program which includes nearly 100 student-athletes and a staff of several coaches and support staff. O’Sullivan is specifically the head coach of the men’s track & field and cross country teams, and he coaches the men’s distance group.   No person could be more qualified for this role than O’Sullivan, a world-class athlete in his own right who has helped build the Villanova legacy in track & field and cross country as a student-athlete, professional runner and coach for more than four decades. His legendary career puts him in a unique position as not only a coach to the current generations of Wildcats, but also the steward of the program’s incredible history.   One of only three athletes in history to run more than 100 sub-four-minute mile races, O’Sullivan was a three-time world indoor champion and a four-time Olympian representing his native Ireland. He was at one time the indoor world record holder in the mile and twice set championships records in the 1500 meters at the World Indoor Championships.   O’Sullivan also still holds the world record in the 4xMile relay with countrymen Ray Flynn, Eamonn Coghlan and Frank O’Mara. Their world record of 15:49.08 set in 1985 has seldomly been threatened, with the closest attempt at the mark coming from O’Sullivan’s own student-athletes who came within less than two seconds at the 2024 Penn Relays.   In more than a quarter of a century as the Wildcats head coach, the accomplishments of the Villanova track & field and cross country teams are staggering. O’Sullivan has guided the Wildcats to top 20 team finishes at the NCAA Championships a total of 21 times. His teams have won 18 BIG EAST titles and tallied 10 additional runner-up conference finishes.   Villanova has won nine individual events at the NCAA Championships under O’Sullivan’s watch, including consecutive national titles in the men’s distance medley relay indoors in 2002 and 2003. Adrian Blincoe anchored each of those championship relays and was the individual champion of the 2002 men’s indoor 3000 meters. O’Sullivan has also guided Bobby Curtis to an outdoor NCAA title in the 5000 meters (2008) and Patrick Tiernan to the individual cross country national crown (2016).   In his first two years on the Wildcats staff (1998-99 and 1999-00), O’Sullivan was also the head coach of the women’s track & field and cross country programs. During that time the women’s distance runners were coached by Gina Procaccio, who has now been the women’s track & field and cross country head coach for 25 years. The women won the 1998 cross country national title and tallied top-20 finishes at the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships in both 1999 and 2000. During those seasons the team won a combined three BIG EAST team titles, while distance runner Carrie Tollefson was a four-time NCAA champion with wins indoors in the 3000 meters (1999, 2000) and an outdoor double in the 3K and 5K in 1999.   As of the end of the 2023-24 collegiate season, O’Sullivan has coached 105 All-Americans and guided his teams to 197 individual event titles at the BIG EAST Championships. He has seen his student-athletes win 14 events at the Penn Relays, including 11 Championship of America relays. Villanova has produced 48 sub-four-minute milers over the years; O’Sullivan is not only the most prominent member of the group but he has now coached nearly half (22) of the runners in program history who have achieved the feat. Three of those athletes – Adrian Blincoe, Sam McEntee and Patrick Tiernan – have gone on to represent their countries in the Olympics a total of six times. O’Sullivan also coached former Wildcats and future Olympians Carmen Douma, Marina Muncan and Sheila Reid during their professional careers.   O’Sullivan has steadfastly instilled in his student-athletes the importance of a complete collegiate experience which includes excellence in the classroom and service in the community. To that end, two of O’Sullivan’s student-athletes – Samuel Ellison (2014) and Tom Trainer (2016) – earned prestigious Fulbright Scholarships which they used to continue their academic careers at the University of Birmingham in England (Ellison) and in a postgraduate program in Jamaica (Trainer).   During O’Sullivan’s head coaching tenure, his student-athletes have been named Academic All-Americans six times and have twice been selected as the BIG EAST Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year for all sports (Drew Eckman in 2006-07 and Sam McEntee in 2014-15). In addition, O’Sullivan’s student-athletes have won 12 BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Awards and 10 student-athletes have been chosen as Villanova Senior Student-Athletes of the Year, the top honor awarded to a graduating student-athlete.   On a team-wide level, the Wildcats have won five BIG EAST Team Academic Excellence Awards under O’Sullivan’s watch. This award was first presented in 2009-10 and recognizes the BIG EAST team in each sport with the highest GPA in the conference. Villanova has won this award in men’s cross country (2011), men’s indoor track & field (2017, 2021) and men’s outdoor track & field (2017, 2021). The men’s cross country team won the Nnenna Lynch Award in both 2010-11 and 2011-12 for having the highest team GPA among all Villanova varsity sports.   Among the accomplishments O’Sullivan is most proud of during his coaching tenure is reinvigorating the program’s relationship with a large and supportive alumni base. A freshman at Villanova during the final year of the legendary Jumbo Elliott’s coaching tenure, O’Sullivan has tirelessly connected many generations of Villanovans with the Wildcats current student-athletes since he moved into the exact office space that Elliott called home for nearly 50 years.   O’Sullivan competed in the Summer Olympics in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. His top finish was an eighth place result in the final of the 1500 meters at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. O’Sullivan was a three-time world indoor gold medalist, winning the 1500 meters in 1987 (Indianapolis), 1989 (Budapest) and 1993 (Toronto). He set a world indoor record in the 1500 meters of 3:35.4 on February 10, 1989 and was a six-time champion of the world renowned Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1996. His lifetime best marks are 1:45.87 in the 800 meters (1985), 3:33.61 in the 1500 meters (1996) and 3:50.94 in the mile (1988).   As a Villanova student-athlete from 1980-84, O’Sullivan became one of the most decorated runners in the history of the Wildcats program. He ran the third leg of a national champion distance medley relay in 1981 and was the anchor of the 1983 two-mile relay squad that also won a national title. O’Sullivan was a member of six teams which won Championship of America titles at the Penn Relays, and he was an eight-time collegiate All-American to go along with 10 BIG EAST titles and 16 All-BIG EAST honors.   A native of Ireland, O’Sullivan came to Villanova as part of the “Irish Pipeline” of track & field athletes who have been coming to the university since the 1950’s to continue their educational and athletic pursuits. O’Sullivan is one of more than 30 members of the pipeline and has continued to strengthen this connection as head coach. O’Sullivan was inducted to the Leevale Athletic Club Hall of Fame in 2008 in his native Cork. As of 2020, the club had produced five sub-four-minute milers. Three of the five are Villanovans, including O’Sullivan, Ken Nason and Charlie O’Donovan. O’Donovan was coached by Nason in high school and by O’Sullivan during his collegiate career.   O’Sullivan was inducted to the Athletics Ireland Hall of Fame in 2016. He is a member of the Villanova University Varsity Club Hall of Fame (inducted 2001) and the Villanova Track & Field Wall of Fame in Villanova Stadium (inducted 2004).   O’Sullivan holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting from Villanova and earned his MBA from the University in 1989. After passing the CPA exam, he served as a part-time faculty member for the Villanova marketing department in 1992-93.