CHICAGO, Ill.—Sophomore distance runner Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) ascended to the top of the BIG EAST performance list in the 3000 meters with a time of 7:47.43 at the Windy City Invite on Saturday afternoon at the Dr. Conard Worrill Track and Field Center in Chicago. The venue will coincidentally host the BIG EAST Championships later this month for the third straight year. Langon's time is the third-fastest in school history in the 3000 meters and puts him among this season's national leaders in the event.
 
The invitational section of the 3K was the last individual event across two days of competition in Chicago. It was worth the wait as Langon ran the first 3000 meter race of his collegiate career and recorded a time that was nearly 48 seconds faster than his best high school 3K race. The progression was nothing new for one of the Wildcats top up-and-coming runners, as Langon has run a pair of sub-four minute miles this indoor season and registered a personal best time of 3:56.24 in his most recent race prior to Saturday's performance.
 
Langon was around 4:10 at the mile in Saturday's race and gained ground as the race went on. He moved up from sixth at the midpoint of the race to third at the finish and was the only athlete in the race to close in under a minute for his final 400 meters. The three fastest indoor times in the 3000 meters in Villanova history have come in the last two seasons, with Langon setting his sights on the program's standing indoor 3K record of 7:45.67 which teammate Liam Murphy recorded in Boston exactly one year ago this weekend.
 
At the time of Saturday's race Langon ranked 15^th nationally with his 3K time. Other competitions around the country ended later on Saturday night and moved Langon down on the national descending order list this season, although he will likely remain among the top 25 performers in the country this season when the weekend wraps up.