The 5000 meters or its imperial 3 miles equivalent have been contested at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships since 1974.
It is the longest race on the NCAA indoor track program.
The imperial distance was contested until 1982.
The distance was not contested from 1983 to 1988, and then the metric 5000 meters was run since 1989.
In 1986 and 1987, the 1⁄10-mile track that the races were run on was 25 inches (640 mm) per lap short, making the actual race distance less than 5000 meters those years.