BATHURST, New South Wales, Australia—It has been quite a ride for Villanova freshman Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.), in the last seven months since he first arrived on campus, and in the last several days on a whirlwind trip around the globe to compete against the top distance runners in the world. At just 18 years of age, Langon is an international medalist after Team USA won bronze in the U20 Men's race at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23 late Saturday afternoon.
 
Langon's own contribution in the race had a lot to do with the United States winning the bronze medal. He tallied a 19^th place individual finish in the U20 race and was the second American across the finish line, recording a time of 26:16 over 8,000 meters. The field of competition consisted of 69 athletes representing 11 countries and five continents. Langon was one of six Americans who made up the Team USA Men's U20 contingent.
 
Saturday's race was run in scorching temperatures which approached 100 degrees at the start. The conditions tested the athletes physical limits with a combination of the weather along with a challenging layout with multiple laps through course features referred to as the billabong, the vineyard and the mountain straight. The winning time for individual gold medalist and recently turned 18-year-old Ishmael Kipkurui was 24:29.
 
Langon flew from Philadelphia to Dallas this past Tuesday before joining his American teammates for a long-haul flight to Australia. The time difference – Bathurst is 16 hours ahead of Eastern time in the United States – meant that Langon began his travel on Tuesday and arrived in Australia on Thursday, only two days before the race on Saturday afternoon. At least it was Saturday afternoon locally; back at Villanova it was barely Saturday morning (12:50 a.m. Eastern time) when the race went off.
 
Make what you will of all of those challenges, however. No competition worthy of being called a world championship is ever going to be easy, a reminder which makes Langon's result look even more impressive. He steadily picked up steam as the race unfolded and his 19^th place finish marked his highest place in the field at any point in the competition. Langon surged 12 spots in the standings during his second of four laps around a two kilometer course, then moved up three more spots on each of his final two laps.
 
The four scoring runners for the United States finished between 16^th and 25^th place and had a spread of 39 seconds between them. Emilio Young, still 10 days shy of his 18^th birthday, came in 16^th overall in 26:03 and was followed by Langon three spots later in 26:16. Max Sannes placed 21^st with a time of 26:24 and Kole Mathison came in 25^th in 26:42. Team USA also included Micah Wilson (27^th, 26:50) and Evan Jenkins (53^rd, 28:00.
 
The experience of competing in a world championship meet at such a young age is not only one of a lifetime, but will more importantly help propel Langon forward as he continues to grow in his running career. He made an immediate impact in the collegiate ranks last Fall when he earned first team All-BIG EAST and Mid-Atlantic All-Region honors for a Villanova squad which won team titles at both the BIG EAST Championships and the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on the way to the program's highest finish at the NCAA Championships in eight years.
 
Next for Langon, after traveling back to the United States and getting back to his campus routine to complete the whirlwind travel experience, will likely be preparation for the outdoor track & field season which begins in late March.