BOSTON, Mass.—Sophomore middle distance runner Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) had a race for the ages on Friday afternoon as he recorded a time of 2:17.77 in the 1000 meters during competition at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University. Watcke's time is the third-fastest indoor mark in NCAA history and the fifth-fastest absolute time ever recorded by a collegiate athlete. He shattered his own indoor school record in the process, breaking the mark of 2:20.10 he had recorded in Philadelphia less than a month ago.
 
Watcke has run three official races this season and has set a school record in all of them. The first of his historic performances came in the first indoor race of his collegiate career on January 18 when he recorded the time of 2:20.10 at the Quaker Invitational. He followed that performance a week later by pacing the first 1000 meters of the mile on the same track at Penn, then returned to his record-setting ways on January 31 at Penn State with an indoor Villanova record time of 1:46.34.
 
If those January performances rippled through the Wildcats record book, Friday's race reverberated worldwide. Watcke recorded the seventh fastest 1K time in the world since the calendar turned to 2025 and etched his place into collegiate history with his time of 2:17.77. The only two faster times in NCAA indoor history – 2:16.84 and 2:17.39 – were recorded on January 18 of this year.
 
Those marks along with Watcke's time on Friday are the fastest ever run during the collegiate competition season and they only trail a pair of times by former Oregon runner Joachim Cruz which were set outdoors during the 1984 summer season. Watcke can also now lay claim to the No. 2 absolute time in Villanova history, behind only a mark of 2:16.7 that John Marshall set in Paris on July 13, 1985 one month after the final collegiate race of his career.
 
Watcke's legend is quickly growing as he makes a name for himself among the world's top middle distance runners. He was a Pan American U20 gold medalist in the 800 meters in July 2023 prior to the start of his collegiate career and he reached the final of the 800 meters at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru in August 2024.
 
As a collegiate freshman last year, Watcke ran on the Wildcats championship distance medley relay at the Penn Relays and was the BIG EAST outdoor runner-up to teammate Sean Dolan in the 800 meters. He went on to reach the national quarterfinal round of the 800 meters at the NCAA East Preliminary in Kentucky before turning his attention to the summer circuit which led to his success at the World U20 meet.
 
Villanova had more success at the David Hemery meet later Friday afternoon when four runners recorded personal bests in the 3000 meters for the second time this season. The group was led by senior Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) who lowered his PR to 7:55.33, while redshirt freshman CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.) broke eight minutes for the first time and was clocked in 7:59.46. His performance led to a Wildcats first as the team now has six runners below eight minutes in the 3000 meters this season, a feat which has never happened in the same year before.
 
Redshirt freshman Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia) is one of those sub-eight 3000 meter runners and nearly added another such time on Friday as he recorded a mark of 8:00.08. Redshirt freshmen Nick Sullivan (Middletown, N.J.) and Kai Mitchell-Reiss (Portland, Ore.) recorded personal best times of 8:14.04 and 8:15.51, respectively.
 
Villanova began the week as the top-ranked 3000 meter squad in the nation based on last week's #EventSquad rankings released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The team occupies the top four spots – and six of the top eight positions – on this year's BIG EAST performance list.