Meet the Villanova runner who taught the nation a lesson in resilience with his marathon finish

When Matthew Nawn collapsed less than 30 feet from the finish line of the Boston Marathon last Monday, the only thing he could think about was finishing before the medics got to him.

“I saw guys collapse at Mile 20 and Mile 22,” Nawn said. “They would collapse, and then medical would pull them off the course and wouldn’t let them finish. I’m 15, 30 feet away from the finish line [thinking], ‘Don’t let them pull you off the course. Get across the line before they touch you.’”

With his legs unable to carry him a step farther, Nawn rolled over onto his back, then got on his hands and knees, and crawled toward the finish. When Nawn finished and the marathon medics reached for his shoulders to lift him into a wheelchair, Nawn was unaware he had crossed the finish line.

“I didn’t pass out, but you’re definitely not [at] 100% mental faculty at that point,” said Nawn, 20. “I was just so focused on crossing that I didn’t know when I actually did.”

The clip of Nawn crawling to the finish went viral on social media after the race. An Instagram reel of Nawn’s finish posted by Boston’s local ABC affiliate was viewed more than 725,000 times in the week following the marathon.

Nawn is not on social media, so he did not hear that the clip was gaining popularity until his friends informed him.

“I was getting texts from all my friends like, ‘Hey, you’re pretty famous now,’” Nawn said. “I was like, ‘What did I do?’”

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Nawn was an accomplished distance runner at Hanover Senior High School in Hanover, Pa. His high school track career, which included a district championship at 3,200 meters, earned him a few offers to run at Division II and III schools in Pennsylvania and New York.

Nawn decided he would rather attend Villanova, where he studies electrical engineering and is part of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program.

When Nawn decided against running for a college team, he began training for marathons, with the goal of qualifying for Boston. His first recorded time, at the 2023 Harrisburg Marathon, qualified him for the Boston Marathon.

“The Boston Marathon, that’s the pinnacle of the sport,” Nawn said. “So why not try for it?”

The first 15 miles of the race were ideal for Nawn. After starting in the first non-professional wave, Nawn was on pace to set a personal record.

“I was on that [personal record] pace and I felt absolutely fine,” Nawn said. “I was genuinely thinking that, closer to the finish line, I could probably speed up the pace and go harder if I wanted to.”

Nawn’s race started to turn after Mile 15. He tried to take an energy gel but could not keep it down. Then came the vomiting. Nawn said he threw up eight times between the end of Mile 15 and Mile 18. It’s not the first time Nawn has vomited during a race. As an experienced runner, he expected the sickness to bring some relief.

“Once you get it out of you, you feel better,” Nawn said. “Typically, that’s the case, but when you lose your fluids like that, it doesn’t get better.”

Nawn managed to keep moving through the final third of the race, including the notorious Heartbreak Hill between Miles 20 and 21. But with the race’s finish line about a quarter-mile away, Nawn started to feel his legs tighten. Less than 30 feet from the finish, Nawn collapsed onto Boylston Street.

“It definitely felt like it was coming,” Nawn said.

Nawn’s first instinct after hitting the ground feet away from the finish line was to cross it by any means necessary. To avoid being stopped from finishing by medics, Nawn crawled toward the finish. The medics toed the finish line, waiting for Nawn to finish before helping him.

“I felt them grab my shoulders to try and lift me,” Nawn said. “At first, I said, ‘Don’t touch me, I want to finish, I want to finish.’ They had to tell me three times, ‘You’ve crossed the line,’ before I would let them actually lift me up.’”

Dehydration caused the collapse. Nawn lost a lot of fluid after vomiting. Once he was in the medical tent, Nawn got his heart rate down and some electrolytes back, and “walked out five minutes later.”

For Nawn, the attention that his finish received is confusing. He understands that others see the footage of him crawling toward the line as inspirational. But after running well for the first 15 miles, it’s hard for Nawn to see the end of his race as a success.

“I didn’t accomplish the plan of the day, which was to run [a] personal-best pace,” Nawn said. “I’m glad people find motivation in it, but for me it’s still a bad race. I’ve got to do better next time.”

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Nawn ran the marathon in a Nike Villanova running tank top that he bought from a club runner at the school. Nawn said throughout the Boston Marathon, people recognized the school’s wordmark across the navy top, and cheered him on.

“It’s cool to hear Villanova chants as you’re running down the road,” Nawn said. “I think it’s a nice connection to the crowd. It felt like every half mile during the marathon, somebody was cheering, ‘Go Cats.’”

But Nawn’s reason for wearing the top was not to garner cheers. It was a simpler decision.

“It’s the most comfortable singlet I own,” Nawn said. “It’s a really good singlet.”

The tank top might make another appearance in Boston, as Nawn said he hopes to run the Boston Marathon again next year. He ran the 2024 Philadelphia Marathon in the lead-up to this year’s race and ran a time that qualified him for the 2026 Boston Marathon.

Nawn plans on running another marathon or two in the fall to get the bilious taste of his most recent race out of his mouth. He does not have specific marathons in mind.

“You never want a bad race to be your last racing memory,” Nawn said. “It’s [about] going out there and getting a good race, then keeping that good race in your memory. So if I do get back to Boston next April, the last race [I] can remember is a good one.”

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