2025-2026

Cross Country - Andruw started off the 2025 XC season exactly as he finished the 2024 – finishing as ACU’s top finisher in each of the first 4 meets of the year – 2^nd in the ACU Naimadu Classic, 3^rd in the UTA Gerald Richey Invitational, 15^th in the Chile Pepper Festival, and 27^th in the Arturo Barrios Invitational in College Station. Unfortunately, a recurring injury forced Andruw to drop out of the WAC Championship race (he was 1^st-team All-Conference last season). The same injury precluded him from competing at the South Central Region Championship.

2024-2025

Cross Country – Andruw Villa kicked off his college running career in stunning fashion. He was the #1 finisher in all 6 XC races that ACU attended. He started off with a 2nd place finish in the ACU Naimadu Classic, finished 3rd in the Gerald Richey UTA invitational. Followed that with a 32nd-place finish at the Gans Creek Invitational in Columbia, MO (in a field of 327 runners), and finished 19th in the Arturo Barrios in College Station, where his time in the 8K race of 23:11 was the fastest ever run at that distance by an ACU runner in a XC meet. Andruw would enter the championship season for XC runners with a 10th place finish in the WAC Championship at a race run at altitude in Orem, UT (he was the 2nd-best freshman finisher) and would complete the season by finishing 27th in the South Central Region Championship hosted by Texas A&M. He was also the 5th-best freshman finisher in the field.

Indoors – ran in 4 meets – 6^th in the Corky Classic 3K, 5^th place in the Stan Scott 3K, and a 3^rd place finish in the Jarvis Scott 5K – all three of these meets in the Sports Performance Center at Texas Tech. Finished the indoor season at the WAC Indoor Championship, with a 4^th place finish in the 5K and a 10^th place finish in the 3K.

Outdoors – 4 meets on the year – starting with 2 1500 races – 1^st at both the ACU Wes Kittley Invitationals and the War Hawk Classic. This was followed by 5^th place finish at the Michael Johnson Invitational 5K at Baylor with a personal best time of 14:35.09. Then Andruw topped off his first collegiate year at the WAC Outdoor Championship with a podium finish of 3^rd in the 10K with a personal best time of 31:03.29, followed by a 7^th place in the 5K. On the year, Andruw was All-Conference in XC, indoor track, and outdoor track in his true freshman year.
 

Before ACU: Andruw comes to ACU after an outstanding career at Abilene HS. As a HS freshman, he received his first taste of a HS state meet, as he placed 119th in the 6A state XC meet. He accelerated his improvement going into his sophomore year as he placed 14th in the 6A XC during the fall. In the spring of that year, he would win the District 2-6A 800, 1600, and 3200. At the Region I-6A meet that followed he narrowly missed going to state as with a 5th place finish in the 3200 and 6th place in the 1600. His time of 4:19.99 in the 1600 and 9:25.82 in the 3200 left his ranked #56 in the 1600 and #48 in the state for the 3200. Abilene HS would move from 6A to 5A to begin Andruw’s junior year. An unfortunate injury prevented him from going to the State XC meet that fall, but he did well in the spring as he finished 2nd in the 800, 1600, and 3200 in the District 4-5A meet and would narrowly miss the state track meet as he finished 7th in the 1600 and 8th in the 800 at the Region 1-5A meet. Andruw started his senior year by getting 14th at the prestigious Southlake Carroll #1 Invitational in a time of 14:52.3 that give the #18 best time in Texas high schools for the year. He would go on to finish 2nd in the 5A state XC meet, then qualify to run in the Nike Nationals XC meet, where he finished 50th in the top HS XC field of the year. Early in the spring of his senior year, Andruw finished 4th in the Wes Kittley Invitational 5K at Elmer Gray Stadium in a time of 15:10.15. As a senior, he would win the 800, 1600, and 3200 at the District 4-5A and only an injury at the area meet prevented Andruw from going to the regional meet to attempt to add a trip to the state track meet to his 3 trips to the state XC meet. In an interesting tidbit, as an 8-year-old Andruw set the Texas state record of 2:31 in the 800.