Nicky Akande Hometown: Lawrenceville, Ga. High School: Collins Hill Position: Cross Country/Middle Distance Birthdate: 07/10/1992 Experience: So./So.

On Akande: Has had a tremendous sophomore campaign, beginning during the cross country season and continuing through both the indoor and outdoor track campaigns ... Emerged as a consistent BIG EAST scorer and one of the team's top middle distance runners ... Continues to get better with each meet and has a bright future.

2012 Outdoor: Was a part of the Villanova lineup that won the Championship of America in the distance medley relay at the Penn Relays ... Ran a personal best split of 2:04.50 in the 800 meters leg of the DMR ... Also helped lead the Wildcats to a BIG EAST title in the 4x800 meter relay at the BIG EAST Championships, where she ran the third leg of the race ... Individually earned All-BIG EAST honors at the conference meet with a runner-up finish in the 800 meters ... Clocked a personal best time of 2:04.56 in the finals at the BIG EAST meet, notching her third PR of the season ... Placed third in the 800 meters at both the Larry Ellis Invitational (2:06.09) and the Colonial Relays (2:09.15), with both of those times being personal bests when she ran them ... Came in second at the season-opening Big Five Invite (2:10.61) ... Ran two personal bests in the 1500 meters, including her current top time of 4:17.33 at the Swarthmore Last Chance Meet ... Also ran a time of 4:23.31 at the Colonial Relays and finished in third place out of 66 runners ... Came in fourth (4:32.58) at the Big Five Invite ... Ran the third leg of the 4x1500 meter relay at the Penn Relays.

2012 Indoor: Helped lead the Wildcats to a BIG EAST title in the 4x800 meter relay by running a split of 2:07.6 on the the second leg of the race at the BIG EAST Championships ... Also anchored the distance medley relay to a runner-up finish at the conference meet and produced a split of 4:39.9 over the final 1600 meters as Villanova earned All-BIG EAST honors in the event ... Top individual event during the season was the Mile, which she ran four times ... Finished in ninth place at the BIG EAST Championships and had the fastest time in the field in the preliminaries with a personal best mark of 4:47.54 ... Set a personal best for the second time during the season after also running a time of 4:47.86 and placing fourth in the invitational section of the Penn State National ... Came in 18th at the Columbia Last Chance Meet (4:50.96) ... Established personal bests of 2:50.37 in the 1000 meters (Great Dane Classic) and 9:39.46 in the 3000 meters (New Balance Collegiate Invitational).

2011 Cross Country: Came in 60th overall and 40th in her first race at the NCAA Championships ... Was the third finsher for Villanova at both the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and the BIG EAST Championships ... The team won a share of the regional title and won a BIG EAST championship for the fourth straight year ... Placed 10th individually at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and 12th at the conference meet ... Had a career-best 6K time of 20:26.1 at the BIG EAST Championships ... Opened the season with a runner-up finish at the Main Line Invitational, where she came in second out of 19 runners with a three-mile time of 16:49.49 ... Was the third team runner at the Paul Short Run, finishing 14th out of 396 runners on the 6K course, which she covered in 20:58 ... Recorded a time of 20:52 and placed 42nd at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational as Villanova's fourth runner.

2011 Outdoor: Anchored Villanova to a third place finish and All-BIG EAST recognition in the 4x800 meter relay at the conference championships ... Villanova finished the race with a time of 8:44.92 ... Placed 11th in the 800 meters at the BIG EAST Championships in 2:12.99 ... Also competed in the 1500 meters during the season ... Her time of 4:34.47 at the Mason Spring Invitational placed her second in her section and was a season-best mark ... Came in ninth in her section at the Larry Ellis Invitational and 10th in her section at the Colonial Relays.

2011 Indoor: Registered an eighth place finish to garner one team point in the 800 meters at the BIG EAST Championships ... Had a time of 2:15.18 in the finals of the conference meet after running in 2:12.49 in the preliminaries ... Posted a season-best time of 2:11.03 at the Columbia Last Chance Meet ... Came in fourth at the NYRR II meet in 2:11.81 ... Ran three races in the 1000 meters and placed fourth at the NYRR I meet in 2:58.44 ... Finished fourth at the Jack Pyrah Invitational and 32nd at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational ... Ran the Mile at the New Balance meet and placed 21st in the College section of the race with a time of 5:07.21 ... Helped Villanova win the 4x800 meter relay at the NYRR I meet, running the third leg of the race as the Wildcats posted a winning time of 9:150.7.

2010 Cross Country: Opened the season by finishing eighth place out of 70 runners at the Main Line Invitational, where her time over three miles was 18:31 ... Lowered that time to 17:42 on the same course later in the year for the Haverford Invitational, where she came in fourth out of 73 runners ... Had a season-best 6K time of 22:25 in the Penn State National, where she came in 84th out of 304 runners ... Posted a time of 23:23 at the Paul Short Run ... Came in 77th at the BIG EAST Championships with a time of 23:43.

Collins Hill High School: Part of three state champion teams, including two in cross country and one in track ... As a cross country runner was a three-time all-country, All-Metro and all-state performer ... Was a two-time track All-American (2008, 2009) ... Also a two-time All-Metro selection and a three-time all-country choice ... State champion as a senior in both the 800 meters (2:11) and the 1600 meters (4:57) ... Previously was a runner-up at the state, region and county championships in both events as a junior in 2009 ... Also was second in the 4x400 meter relay at the state meet in 2009 ... Won the 800 meters title at the state and region meets in 2008 ... As a freshman, was the 800 meters champion at the JV Invitational ... In cross country, was a 2009 5A state champion and an individual qualifier to NXN ... 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Runner of the Year and Gatorade Player of the Year in cross country ... In 2008, finished as the runner-up at both the county and regional meets, while placing sixth in the state meet ... Came in eighth at the NXN Southeast Regional and 43rd at Nationals ... 2007 county, region and 5A state runner-up ... Was sixth at the NTN Southeast Regional and 54th at Nationals in 2007.

Personal: Born 7/10/92 ... One of four children of Ismail and Tai Akande ... Siblings are Deji (30), Sherry (27) and Luke (13) ... Undeclared major in the school of Liberal Arts.

PERSONAL BESTS

800 Meters (Relay)       2:04.50           2012 Penn Relays
800 Meters (Open)        2:04.56           2012 BIG EAST Championships
1000 Meters              2:50.37           2012 Great Dane Classic
1500 Meters              4:17.33           2012 Swarthmore Last Chance Meet
Mile                     4:47.54           2012 BIG EAST Championships
3000 Meters              9:39.46           2012 New Balance Collegiate Invitational
6000 Meters (XC)         20:26.1           2011 BIG EAST Championships

CAREER AWARDS (Cross Country)

All-Mid Atlantic Region                    2011
All-BIG EAST                               2011

CAREER AWARDS (Indoor Track)

BIG EAST Champion                          2012 (4x800 Meter Relay)
All-BIG EAST                               2012 (4x800 Meter Relay)
All-BIG EAST                               2012 (Distance Medley Relay)

CAREER AWARDS (Outdoor Track)

BIG EAST Champion                          2012 (4x800 Meter Relay)
All-BIG EAST                               2012 (800 Meters)
All-BIG EAST                               2011, 2012 (4x800 Meter Relay)
Penn Relays Champion                       2012 (Distance Medley Relay)

BIG EAST TOP 8 FINISHES

4x800 Meter Relay        1st               2012 Indoor, 2012 Outdoor
800 Meters               2nd               2012 Outdoor
Distance Medley Relay    2nd               2012 Indoor
4x800 Meter Relay        3rd               2011 Outdoor
800 Meters               8th               2011 Indoor