DURHAM, N.C.—Senior distance runner Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) set a meet record in the 5000 meters at the Duke Invitational and Villanova had four of the top five finishers in the event at Morris Williams Stadium on Friday night. Langon broke a record that had stood for seven years by more than 10 seconds and was followed across the finish line by junior CJ Sullivan (Milton, Mass.), junior Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia) and sophomore Jack Fenlon (Laois, Ireland) who all broke 14 minutes in the fast section of the 5K.
 
The winning time for Langon was 13:28.43 and the mark is the seventh-fastest that a Villanovan has ever run during the collegiate outdoor season. He dueled head-to-head with Rocky Hansen of Wake Forest for the final 600 meters and both runners easily beat the previous meet record of 13:38.60 which was set by unattached runner Willy Fink in 2019. Langon beat Hansen by just over a second at the finish line in his outdoor season opener and first race since he posted first team All-America honors in the 5000 meters and the 3000 meters at the indoor NCAA Championships on March 13-14.
 
Despite the meet record being a highlight, the team effort was a more important hallmark coming out of Friday night's events. The quartet of Langon, Sullivan, Habler and Fenlon all tallied times which should qualify them for the NCAA East Preliminary next month. That meet will contest the national semifinal heats of the 5000 meters from the East Region with qualifying spots for the NCAA Championships on the line.
 
Sullivan recorded a PR of 13:41.28 in Friday night's race and moved into the top 10 in school history. He ranks ninth overall on the Wildcats all-time performance list in the 5K and eighth on the outdoor list for times recorded during the collegiate season. Sullivan was third and Habler fourth with a time of 13:41.57, while Fenlon broke 14 minutes for the first time in his career and finished fifth with a PR of 13:44.87. In an earlier section of the 5K, junior Nick Sullivan (Middletown, N.J.) tallied his second PR of the calendar year with a time of 14:16.16 which beat his indoor time of 14:28.63 by more than 12 seconds.
 
Villanova had three runners in the 1500 meters earlier in the evening, led by sophomore Ben Thomas (Sydney, Australia) who ran the metric equivalent of a sub-four-minute mile. He came in fifth in the fast section of the 1500 with a time of 3:41.29, the fastest he has run during his collegiate career and his second sub-four time of 2026 behind a PR of 3:58.48 in the mile indoors on February 13 in Boston. Graduate students Seán Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) and Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) posted times of 3:42.71 and 3:47.71, respectively.
 
Graduate student Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.) led the Wildcats in the discus and the hammer in Friday's field events. He threw 46.02 meters in the discus and 55.30 meters in the hammer. Freshman thrower Theo Hedgemon (Atlanta, Ga.) recorded a mark of 50.09 meters in the hammer for his second straight outing with a distance beyond 50 meters.
 
Action continues on Saturday morning at the Duke Invitational and Villanova will also have a contingent of its roster competing closer to home at the Rutgers Relays.