BOSTON, Mass.—Fifth year collegian Sean Dolan (Ewing, N.J.) and senior Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) led the way as Villanova recorded its best indoor national finish in 21 years with a top-20 showing at the 2024 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday evening. The pair of Wildcats each tallied top-four finishes in their events and Villanova tied for 19^th place with 13 team points at the TRACK at new balance.
 
Dolan was the NCAA Championships runner-up in the men's 800 meters and tied the best-ever indoor finish by a Wildcats runner in the event. His second place result also matches the best NCAA finish by any Villanova men's runner in five years. Murphy came in fourth in the 3000 meters and made the awards podium for the first time in an individual track event at the NCAA meet. Sophomore Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) added a 14^th place finish in the 3000 meters.
 
For the second straight day, Dolan ran a strong and steady race from start to finish in the 800 meters. He posted a time of 1:47.61 in Saturday's final and was within half a stride of the lead through each of the first three laps of the race. His second lap of 26.97 was the fastest split of the eight runners in the race and Dolan was nearly even with Tarees Rhoden of Clemson after the pair had dueled each other in the preliminary heats a day earlier. Dolan won the second of two heats on Friday in 1:47.57.
 
In the bell lap of Saturday's race Rivaldo Marshall from Iowa pulled in front of the rest of the pack and Dolan eventually held off Finley McLear from Iowa State by less than a tenth of a second for second place. The difference in team points between the finishes of Dolan (eight points) and McLear (six points) wound up being crucial when all was said and done. Villanova finished two points ahead of Iowa State, with that separation making the difference in the Wildcats top-20 team finish.
 
Dolan's tallied the best indoor finish in the 800 meters by a Villanova runner since John Marshall was the runner-up at the 1985 national championships. Marshall's time of 1:47.84 in the 800 meters at the Millrose Games in 1982 was the Wildcats indoor school record for more than 40 years. Dolan has now surpassed the mark seven times during his own standout collegiate career and his current school record if 1:46.90 from his BIG EAST championship performance last month.
 
The final event of the weekend for Villanova was the championship race in the 3000 meters. Murphy came in fourth with a time of 7:45.64 and tallied the fastest final lap in the field. He passed three runners in the last 200 meters to not only secure a scoring finish (top eight) but surge into fourth place in what became a crowded pack at the finish line. Langon came in 14^th in 8:00.83 while making his indoor NCAA Championships debut.
 
Murphy was stuck in the second half of the field of 16 runners as the race strung out early on. Official splits showed him in 11^th place at the mile but he gradually moved through the ranks from that point on. Murphy was in eighth place at the bell but closed with a final lap of 27.88 to pass runners from Stanford, Oklahoma State and New Mexico before the finish line. His fourth place showing is the highest finish for a Villanova athlete in the 3K at the NCAA Championships since former national champion Adrian Blincoe posted three straight top-two finishes from 2001-03.
 
Saturday marked the first NCAA Championships track race for Langon, who had been part of the Wildcats lineup at the national championships in cross country each of the past two seasons. He was one of only three runners in their first or second year of indoor eligibility who competed in Saturday's national championship race. Prior to this season, Blincoe was Villanova's last All-American in the 3000 meters when he was the 2003 runner-up in the event.
 
Saturday's results make this the 48^th season in which the Wildcats have scored team points at the indoor NCAA Championships since the meet debuted in 1965. Villanova is tied for fourth place among all Division I men's programs for the highest number of years with a team score at the meet. The Wildcats have earned a total of 129 indoor All-America honors over the years.