CHICAGO, Ill.—Gold medals in the 5000 meters and distance medley relay, combined with awards podium finishes in long jump and weight throw, highlighted men's results on the first day of competition at the 2025 BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships Presented by JEEP. Villanova totaled 40 points on Friday afternoon at Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park to stand in second place going into the meet's final day on Saturday when 13 of the 18 events in the meet program will be scored.
 
Junior distance runner Marco Langon (Raritan, N.J.) is the 5000 meters champion for the second straight BIG EAST championship meet after he won the outdoor title last year on the Wildcats home track. He won with a time of 13:57.03 and was one of three Villanova runners to score in the race. The 5K was followed by the DMR in which the lineup of freshman Ben Thomas (Sydney, Australia), junior Ronan O'Neill (Wilmette, Ill.), sophomore Brian Theobald (Wall, N.J.) and fifth year Liam Murphy (Millstone, N.J.) held off a Georgetown challenge to post a winning time of 9:42.54.
 
The day started and ended strong for the Wildcats in the field events. Senior Justin Miller (Collierville, Tenn.) was the first Villanova athlete to get underway on Friday afternoon and he made the awards podium with a bronze medal in long jump. His top mark of the day of 7.26 meters came on his second attempt and he went on to his best career individual BIG EAST finish. Senior thrower Tristan Bolinsky (Gordon, Pa.), how a seven-time BIG EAST podium finisher, earned his first career weight throw medal with a third place finish and a season best mark of 17.33 meters.
 
In addition to Friday's scored events, the Wildcats fared well in the preliminary heats of the sprints and middle distance events. Villanova advanced seven runners to the final of their respective events, highlighted by the fastest qualifier in the 200 meters and two runners each in the 800 meters and mile who automatically moved on to the final.
 
Sophomore sprinter Parker Turner (Los Angeles, Calif.) tallied the second best time of his career and an indoor PR of 21.47 to lead the field of competitors in the 200 meters. He came back with that performance after earlier running in the prelims of the 60 meters. Defending champion Amiri Prescod (Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) tallied a season best time to reach the final in that event. All four of the Wildcats competitors in the first round of the 400 meters registered personal bests, with junior Luke Rakowitz (Dallas, Texas) advancing on to the final.
 
The Wildcats will have redshirt freshmen Bailey Habler (Sydney, Australia) and Kai Mitchell-Reiss (Portland, Ore.) in the final of the mile, as well as sophomore Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) and senior Sean Donoghue (Dublin, Ireland) running in the 800 meter final.
 
Saturday's slate of events makes for a full day of action, including the seven qualifiers who advanced on Friday along with the 3000 meters and the final two relays of the meet – the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay. The lone field event Villanova will compete in on Saturday is shot put.
 
Murphy will be one of the Wildcats to watch on Saturday after his performance on the anchor leg of the DMR. He is the reigning champion and BIG EAST meet record holder in the 3000 meters, as well as the fourth-ranked runner in the country this season with a new school record time of 7:35.47.
 
Saturday's action gets underway at 11 a.m. and can be seen live on BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports Presented by Invesco QQQ.