EUGENE, Ore.—Junior distance runner Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) was about as technically sound as an athlete can be in the men's 5,000 meter national championship race on Friday evening. He tallied a third place finish with a time of 13:21.17 at Hayward Field and became the first Villanova runner in nine years to place as high as third in the men's 5K at the NCAA Championships. Langon closes out the 2025 collegiate competition season as a first team All-American in the 5K both indoors and outdoors.
 
Still technically a sophomore in terms of outdoor eligibility, it is remarkable how quickly Langon has developed into an athlete who is unquestionably on the short list of the nation's top collegiate distance runners. Friday night's result marked his fourth career All-America honor and third of the 2024-25 competition seasons. He followed a 15^th place finish at the NCAA Championships in cross country last fall with a pair of top six finishes in the 5K indoors and outdoors.
 
A deep field of 24 competitors made for a championship that was filled with legitimate contenders for the title. The race, unsurprisingly, developed gradually through the first two miles before the pace began to pick up. That increase in speed happened with just over four laps remaining and the lead runners continued to gain steam from that point on. At every turn it was clear that Langon had more left in the tank. He wisely bided his time in the middle of the pack early on before following the lead pack that developed with less than 2000 meters to go.
 
With three laps to go Langon was within half a second of the lead, which was the closest he had been to the front at any point in the race. It was a six-man competition with 400 meters to go and Langon was as strong of a contender as anyone for the championship as he rounded the final turn with a path to the lead and the title in sight. He maintained that momentum in a close finish at the line; the top three in the race were separated by less than six-tenths of a second.
 
Brian Musau of Oklahoma State came in first with a winning time of 13:20.59, followed by Habtom Samuel of New Mexico State (13:20.89) and Langon (13:21.17). The top five was rounded out by Valentin Soca of Cal Baptist (13:21.76) and Rocky Hansen of Wake Forest (13:22.47) who held the lead for a full seven laps during the middle of the race before being passed with 800 meters to go.
 
Last year at this meet Langon ran his first career NCAA Championships race on the track, also in the 5000 meter final. He came in 21^st to earn honorable mention All-America honors, but his potential clearly showed. Now that potential is reality after Langon broke out on a national stage with his success at this year's NCAA Championships in cross country, indoors and outdoors. His sixth place finish in the 5K indoors is the best ever by a Villanova runner at the NCAA meet; his third place finish Friday night matched the performance by Patrick Tiernan at the 2016 outdoor championships also held at Hayward Field.
 
Langon's time of 13:21.17 is the sixth-fastest in school history. He holds three of the top six marks in the Villanova record book, with indoor races of 13:14.11 in December 2024 and 13:14.16 at the NCAA Championships in March. Friday's time was Langon's outdoor PR and was more than six seconds faster than he ran (13:27.21) in a gold medal result at the BIG EAST Championships last month.
 
The collegiate season has now come to a close for Langon, but it should not be long before he has a chance to return to the famed Hayward Field oval. The stadium is the site of the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships from July 31-August 3. Langon is expected to be a qualifier for the meet, which serves as a qualifier for the United States squad that will head to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan in September.