RICHMOND, Va.—Villanova freshman
Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) recorded the most significant milestone to date of his young collegiate career and did so on a big stage during competition at the USATF Cross Country Championships on Saturday afternoon. Langon raced in the U20 Men's division and recorded a third place finish which earned him the opportunity to test himself against the top distance runner in the world. His finish on Saturday qualified him for the United States team that will head to the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia next month.
The top six finishers in Saturday's race earn selection to the United States squad for the World Championships and Langon left nothing to chance with a time of 23:53.8 over 8,000 meters at Pole Green Park. He ran near the front of the lead pack for the entire race, had the lead with a kilometer to go and came in more than 15 seconds ahead of the first runner who was outside of the top six. The World Athletics Cross Country Championships take place on Saturday, February 18.
"I am thrilled for Marco to have the opportunity to compete at the World Championships," Villanova head coach
Marcus O'Sullivan said. "This is a huge deal for him to achieve the result that he did today and especially considering that it was as tough a field [of competitors] as I can remember. It is impressive for Marco to reach this level at such a young age."
Langon raced against a field that featured young runners from several of the top collegiate programs in the country along with elite club and unattached athletes. He was steady from the starting gun and never fell outside of qualifying range (top six) for the World Championships at any point during the race. Langon was first, second or third in the field for the final 5K of the competition and ran the final kilometer in 2:52.5 to secure his spot on Team USATF.
Unattached runner Emilio Young from California pulled away in the final 1000 meters to comfortably win the race in 23:46.8, but behind him the next five qualifiers were separated by just 5.5 seconds at the finish line. Langon crossed the line less than half a second behind Micah Wilson from Wisconsin (23:53.4) while the rest of the top six included Evan Jenkins from Washington (23:54.1), Max Sannes from Air Force (23:54.2) and Luke Venhuizen from Michigan (23:58.9).
The final race of the day on Saturday was the Men's 10K championship race in which Wildcats graduate student
Henry Myers (Portland, Ore.) competed. Myers tallied a 41
st place finish in 31:26.8 in his first career 10K cross country race. He is in his first year at Villanova after graduating from the University of Chicago where he was a four-year member of the cross country and track & field teams. Myers was running in his first competition since he was the individual champion of the Haverford Invitational in October. He ran four races for the Wildcats during the Fall, with his results also including an 18
th place finish at the Main Line Invitational and a 19
th place result in the Open race at the Paul Short Run.
Langon was an immediate sensation for Villanova during his freshman cross country season. He began the year as an unattached runner and was the champion of the Main Line Invitational on September 16, then joined the team lineup for the first time two weeks later when he recorded a personal best 8K time of 23:49.4 at the Paul Short Run. Langon went on to be a second team All-BIG EAST selection and a Mid-Atlantic All-Region performer for a Wildcats squad which won a BIG EAST title and advanced to the NCAA Championships.
Saturday's race for Langon was the latest high-profile result of his career. Prior to coming to Villanova, he was the New Jersey scholastic champion last year when he recorded a seven-second margin of victory at the state championships. Langon went on to become the No. 3 all-time All-American at the Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals. He was selected as the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year in cross country and track & field as a senior in high school.
