Sam McEntee Hometown: Perth, Australia High School: Hale School Birthdate: 02/03/1992 Experience: Jr./So.

On McEntee: In his first full collegiate season of competition established himself as one of the nation's elite middle distance runners ... Should continue to be a top contributor to the Wildcats at the national level ... Top events are the Mile indoors and the 1500 meters outdoors ... Also will be a leading member of the cross country team ... Has two years of eligibility remaining indoors and three in both cross country and outdoors.

2012 Cross Country: Individual runner-up at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional, receiving All-Mid Atlantic Region honors and helping Villanova capture an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships ... Posted a career best 10K cross country time of 30:34 at the regional meet ... Top runner for the Wildcats in each of the first four races he finished and was the team's third finisher at the NCAA Championships ... Came in 150th at the national meet with a time of 31:06.6 over 10,000 meters ... Finished in 17th place at the BIG EAST Championships (25:04.13) ... Helped the Wildcats capture the team title at the Paul Short Run with a fourth place finish and a time of 24:13 ... Began the season as the individual runner-up at the Main Line Invitational, where he came in second overall with a four-mile time of 19:13.50.

2012 Outdoor: Highlighted his season by running the 10th fastest time in the 1500 meters in the history of NCAA outdoor competition ... He ran a time of 3:36.81 at the Swarthmore Last Chance Meet in May and also shattered his previous personal best with that mark ... Went on to earn second team All-America honors in the 1500 meters with a ninth place finish in the finals at the NCAA Championships ... Automatic qualifier from the national first round at the NCAA East Regional all the way through the national championship race ... His time of 3:42.73 in the semifinal heats at the NCAA Championships was his second-fastest of the season ... Also ran 3:46.37 in the national first round, 3:46.41 in the finals and 3:46.73 in the national quarterfinal heats ... Opened his outdoor season with a third place finish in the 1500 meters at the Larry Ellis Invitational (3:45.15) ... BIG EAST individual champion in the 5000 meters with a personal best time of 14:19.75 ... Anchored the 4x800 meter relay squad to a fourth place finish at the BIG EAST Championships ... Ran the second leg of the 4x800 relay and anchored the distance medley relay at the Penn Relays.

2012 Indoor: Ran the first sub-four minute Mile of his career at the Penn State National, becoming the 34th Villanova to accomplish the feat and the 10th under head coach Marcus O'Sullivan ... Crossed the finish line in 3:57.86 and finished third in the invitational section of the Mile at the Penn State meet ... Went on to earn first team All-America and All-BIG EAST honors in the Mile during the season ... Qualified for the NCAA Championships and came in fourth in the finals at the NCAA meet with a time of 4:01.91 ... Moved up two spots after ranking sixth in the preliminary heats in 4:06.47 ... At the BIG EAST meet ran a time of 4:10.90 in the preliminaries and was in first place entering the finals for the second straight year ... Lowered his time nearly five full seconds in the finals to 4:05.92 and came in second overall ... Won the 3000 meters in a personal best time of 8:13.93 at the Great Dane Classic to open his indoor season ... Led Villanova to a title at the Millrose Games by anchoring the distance medley relay squad which finished with a time of 9:38.02 ... Also a BIG EAST champion in the 4x800 meter relay after running the third leg of the relay at the conference championships.

2011 Cross Country: Broke into the team's lineup midway through the season and was a scoring runner at all three postseason meets ... Finished third on the team at both the NCAA Championships and the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional ... Placed 77th at the national meet and earned All-Mid Atlantic Region honors for a 16th place finish at the regional meet ... His 10K time of 30:38 at the national championships was 21 seconds faster than in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional race ... Earned All-BIG EAST honors with an 11th place finish at the conference meet, where he was fourth on the team with a time of 23:54.1 to help lead the Wildcats to the team title ... Ran as part of the Villanova lineup for the first time at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational and was the team's third runner, coming in 83rd out of 270 competitors (24:44) ... Competed as an unattached runner in two meets earlier in the season ... Placed third out of 85 runners at the Main Line Invitational with a four-mile time of 19:35.91 in his collegiate cross country debut ... Individual winner of the Men's Open race at the Paul Short Run with an 8K time of 25:25.

2011 Outdoor: Redshirted ... Competed as an unattached runner at the Larry Ellis Invitational and recorded a time of 3:47.77 in the 1500 meters ... Came in fifth in his section and seventh overall with that time ... Also ran in the 1500 meters at the Swarthmore Last Chance Meet and posted a time of 3:43.34 to finish in fourth place.

2011 Indoor: Placed sixth at the BIG EAST Championships in the Mile with a time of 4:10.61 in the finals ... He stood first overall after the preliminaries with a mark of 4:11.42 ... Made his Villanova debut at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, where he posted a time of 4:09.84 to finish in third place ... Ran the third leg of the 4x800 meter relay at the BIG EAST Championships and helped Villanova place second with a time of 7:28.28.

Personal: Born 2/3/92 in Melbourne, Australia ... One of four children of Peter and Karen McEntee ... Siblings are Alysha (21), Maddison (17) and Chantel (13) ... Majoring in Computer Science.

PERSONAL BESTS

800 Meters (Relay)       1:49.60           2012 Penn Relays
1500 Meters              3:36.81           2012 Swarthmore Last Chance Meet
Mile                     3:57.86           2012 Penn State National
3000 Meters              8:13.93           2012 Albany Great Dane Invitational
5000 Meters              14:19.75          2012 BIG EAST Championships
8000 Meters (XC)         23:54             2011 BIG EAST Championships
10000 Meters (XC)        30:34             2012 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional

CAREER AWARDS (Cross Country)

All-Mid Atlantic Region                    2011, 2012
All-BIG EAST                               2011

CAREER AWARDS (Indoor Track)

All-American                               2012 (Mile)
BIG EAST Champion                          2012 (4x800 Meter Relay)
All-BIG EAST                               2011 (Mile)
All-BIG EAST                               2011, 2012 (4x800 Meter Relay)
Millrose Games Champion                    2012 (Distance Medley Relay)
Sub-Four Minute Mile (first career)        2012 (Penn State National) (3:57.86)

CAREER AWARDS (Outdoor Track)

All-American                               2012 (1500 Meters)
BIG EAST Champion                          2012 (5000 Meters)
All-BIG EAST                               2012 (5000 Meters)

CAREER AWARDS (Academic)

USTFCCCA All-Academic Team                                2011-12 (Track)
Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team       2012 (Track)
BIG EAST Academic All-Star                                2010-11, 2011-12