All Marco Langon wants is a national title. After falling short at indoor nationals, he will have to wait a few more months to take another attempt at his goal in Eugene, Oregon.
This past weekend, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships brought together the fastest collegiate athletes in the country. Competition began on Wednesday, March 11, and lasted till Saturday, March 14.
On Saturday, Langon crossed the finish line at 7:42.56 to come in third place in the 3000-meter. The original first-place finisher, New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel, was disqualified for pushing on the final lap, which caused him to step outside the lane.
The aggressiveness of the last 200 meters led Langon to nearly stumble alongside Northern Arizona’s Colin Sahlman, who was ultimately named the winner, finishing at 7:41.66. Following the race, Coach Marcus O’Sullivan protested Samuel’s finish after re-watching footage of the final lap. The New Mexico coach Darren Gauson counter-protested and Coach O’Sullivan re-protested the results again.
“I think he was even more determined than the three,” O’Sullivan said. “There was some um altercating stuff going on, like push- ing and shoving and stuffing. Solomon lost his composure. When the race was done, I didn’t even know who won.”
After reviewing the footage, Marco leaned into lane 1 but his feet never stepped out of lane 2. Although he crossed the finish line first, Samuel made several steps out of bounds so was unable to claim the national 3k title. The podium ceremony was not until a half hour after the race due to confusion over results.
“I’m unapologetic for the way I am,” Langon said. “If people got a problem with me, they can meet me somewhere else and do something about it.”
The Villanova senior set the 3000-meter school record at 7:34 last month in the David Hemery Valentine Invite in Boston.
“I was trying to explain to him if you look at where you were twenty four months ago, really two years ago,” coach O’Sullivan said. “I try to point out the important things that there’s so much growth and development.”
Langon was a much lower seed in past NCAA indoor championships. With his finish of third place in the 3K and second place in the 5K, it marked Langon’s highest finish on the national level. Despite not claiming an individual title for his own, Langon understands the complexities of long distance running.
“It’s a physical sport, so sh*t happens,” Langon told reporters on Saturday.
On Friday, Langon began his competition in the 5000-meter and was nearly half a second behind the first-place finisher, Habtom Samuel. Finishing at 13.36.98, Langon finished second in the tight race. Langon set the 5000-meter school record on Dec. 6 in Boston with a time of 13:05.21, 31 seconds faster than the time he ran at nationals.
Fifth-year Lizzie Martell also reached All-American status this weekend. Martell ran a 2:07.65 in the 800-meter preliminary race. Since Martell received 16th place, she did not qualify for the 800-meter finals.
The men’s DMR crossed the finish line at 9:40.36 to reach 11th place at the Championship.
Fifth-year Sean Donoghue was the lead off, running a 2:56.58 in the 1200meter.
“[Donoghue] was a good leadoff leg, his credential was a 2:50 to get us there, so it’s not like he couldn’t do it,” O’Sullivan said. “We knew we were going to be a little bit weaker on the back end. We didn’t know we would come apart on the front end, and that took us out of the race immediately.”
Junior Ethan Walls split 47.73 in the 400-meter portion. Junior Dan Watke ran his specialty of the 800-meter and passed the baton within 1:47.77. At the anchor, junior C.J. Sullivan ran the mile portion in 4:08.29.
“It makes all the difference in terms of being engaged in the race because you just get discouraged,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s so hard to catch up, you’re on your own, you’re never making the impact you think you want to make to catch up.”
The National Championship concludes the indoor season for Villanova Track and Field. The team will commence the outdoor season on Saturday, March 21, at Franklin Field for the Penn Challenge.
