HAVERFORD, Pa.—Junior Casey Comber (Maple Glen, Pa.) opened the season with an individual victory at the Main Line Invitational for the second straight year and Villanova had four of the top-10 finishers in a field of 116 runners in its first meet of the season.  Comber won the four-mile men's race on the Alumni Course at Haverford College to help the Wildcats come in first out of seven teams in the local meet.
 
There was a spread of less than 34 seconds between Villanova's five scoring runners.  Comber recorded a time of 19:27.7 and had a margin of victory of more than six seconds over the runner-up from Penn.  He joined former Wildcats standouts Patrick Tiernan and Bobby Curtis with multiple victories at the Main Line meet, which Villanova was competing in for the 16^th straight year. 
 
Sophomore Nick Steele (Harvard, Mass.) came in sixth overall with a time of 19:48.4 and was followed by a trio of Wildcats who placed 9-10-11.  Sophomore Rob Morro (Media, Pa.) led that group with a time of 19:57.3, while sophomore Martin Barr (Skokie, Ill.) was 10^th (20:00.3) and junior Andrew Marston (Wayne, Pa.) came in 11^th (20:00.8).    
 
Although the meet was just the first of the season and mostly a chance for Villanova to gauge its fitness level heading into the heart of its schedule, the team race between the Wildcats and Penn was nevertheless an intriguing one.  Villanova finished with a team score of 33 points and the Quakers were second with 37 points.  Barr and Marston each crossed the finish line ahead of the fourth and fifth runners from Penn to clinch the outcome.    
 
Entering their first meet of the season, the Wildcats were ranked No. 28 nationally and No. 2 in the Mid-Atlantic Region in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) polls.  Villanova will next compete at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on September 28.