AZUSA, Calif.—History was made just before 1:00am on the East coast as sophomore distance runner Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) ran the No. 7 time in the 5K in Villanova history at the Bryan Clay Invitational late Friday night in California. Running in the fastest invitational section of the event in the Wildcats first-ever trip to the Bryan Clay meet, Langon crossed the finish line at Cougar Athletic Stadium in a blistering 13:28.44 to shatter his previous PR by nearly 20 seconds.
 
Langon held his own in a race that featured both top collegiate as well as professional runners from around the world. He finished 11^th in a field of 29 competitors and his time of 13:28.44 was particularly impressive in a section that featured two times below the existing meet and stadium records entering the night. Those two times were each top-10 marks in NCAA collegiate outdoor history as well, while Langon's mark will put him in the thick of the leaders on this year's Division I national performance list.
 
It is the second time in the last five months that a time has been added to the Wildcats list of absolute fastest times. Langon comes in at seventh on that list and fifth overall on the list of Villanova's fastest 5K races to be run during the collegiate outdoor season. He joins teammates Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) and Devon Comber (Ambler, Pa.) on the program's all-time top-10 performance list in the 5000 meters; Murphy is No. 2 on that list after an indoor school record of 13:21.20 last December, while Comber slides down a spot to No. 10 with his time of 13:45.90 recorded just two weeks ago at the Raleigh Relays.
 
Langon's official first collegiate season on the track – he redshirted as a true freshman a year ago – has already been a phenomenal one. His results prior to Friday night's race included times of 3:56.24 in the mile and 7:43.83 in the 3000 meters during the indoor season. Friday's race in California was the outdoor season opener for Langon, whose previous PR in the 5K had been 13:47.42 while running unattached at Princeton a year ago this weekend.
 
One more race followed Langon's performance on Friday night, as fifth year collegian Xian Shively (Glendale, Calif.) ran in his home state for the first time in a Villanova singlet. Shively competed in the third heat of the invitational 5K and posted a time of 13:57.90 to tally the second-fastest race of his career. It is the third time overall that Shively has broken 14 minutes in the 5K and comes on the heels of him running a personal best of 13:53.61 at the Raleigh Relays last month.
 
Earlier in the night, fifth year middle distance runner Sean Dolan (Ewing, N.J.) and freshman Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) ran in the invitational 800 meters. Dolan posted a top-10 national time in his outdoor season debut with a mark of 1:47.11 in the fastest heat of the night. He was the only Division I collegiate runner in the race and crossed the finish line less than half a second faster than a pair of D1 runners from Texas and Indiana in the second heat.
 
Dolan takes over the BIG EAST lead for this season and ran the fourth-fastest time in the East region based on the descending order list going into this weekend. It is business as usual for the veteran Dolan, a six-time collegiate All-American who has tallied a pair of top-eight finishes in the 800 meters at the NCAA Championships during his career.
 
One of the quickly up-and-coming prospects on the Wildcats roster is Watcke, who ran only his second collegiate race on Friday evening. He won his heat of the 800 meters in 1:48.55 to put himself into the middle of the East region leaders for the season. Watcke's time was a strong one but it was his competitiveness that stood out during the race. He made a big move in the final 150 meters to move from the middle of the pack and into the front coming down the final straightaway.
 
Watcke is no stranger to excelling against top competition. He is already an international gold medalist after winning the 800 meters at the Pan American U20 Championships last summer, while his lifetime best mark of 1:47.99 was recorded in July 2023 at the USATF U20 Championships. Watcke made his collegiate debut in the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton two weeks ago where his time of 1:48.70 gave him the early-season BIG EAST lead.
 
Friday kicked off a busy weekend for the Wildcats with competition both in California and in the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton. Both meets will be back in action on Saturday afternoon and evening.