Villanova's Pat Tiernan Adds Some History To An Impressive Resume
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It has been quite a year for Pat Tiernan.
The Villanova senior and native of Australia spent part of the summer representing his home country in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Then last week up in the Bronx, Tiernan made history for the Wildcats when he became the first runner to ever win the Big East individual cross country championship four times.
"It was pretty exciting to get the win on the weekend," Tiernan tells KYW Newsradio. "You find yourself up in great company there, winning a Big East title, let alone four of them. So it's a great honor."
Listen to the entire interview with Villanova's Pat Tiernan:
Tiernan didn't just win, he dominated. He finished more than ten seconds ahead of the second place competitor (finished the 8,000 meter course with a time of 24:18.2) and he says the margin of victory did allow him to bask in the accomplishment as he came down the stretch.
"Probably the last 50 to 40 meters of the race," Tiernan says, "you'd turn around and see that you've got a bit of a gap on them and it was nice to be able to soak it in a little bit. Just have a look around at the crowd that was lining up (down) the finishing stretch. So that was a really cool experience for me and something I haven't really been able to soak in before."
Tiernan realizes how special his accomplishments and opportunities have been here as of late.
"Yeah, it's been a pretty nuts year," he says. "The Olympics is obviously the pinnacle of our sport, so it's going to be a great experience, regardless of how you do. I was really excited to be able to make that team and just fulfill that lifelong dream of mine. Then coming back here, Villanova's been great. It's always nice to come back on campus and see your mates and whatnot. Getting back on the team and settling in for the Big East this year was something I wanted to do, and I was glad I was able to come through with the goods on Friday."
Tiernan says he played a lot of sports growing up in Australia, but he really started to focus on distance running around the age of 15. He says his success is about much more than just him.
"Just having a good support base to start is very essential," Tiernan says. "My family and friends have always been very supportive of my goals in this sport. It's always easier to keep driving forward when you've got people behind you. But I think also, just the fact you grow up with a sport, you learn to love it. It's easy when you're younger if you're good at something to keep going, but I think now it's the drive that I'm getting to the next stage in my career where there are guys that are a lot better than me right now and I want to be able to get to that level. So that's the drive that's pushing me forward right now."
While Tiernan's college running career has come to a close, he's not done with the sport and he has the 2020 Olympics circled on his calendar.
"I got a taste of it this summer," Tiernan says of the Olympics. "But I'd love to go back there and do much better next time (Tiernan finished 13th in his heat in Rio), hopefully make the final and be able to compete with the big boys there. I definitely want to be in Tokyo, but right now we're going to take it year-by-year and see how it goes."