Metaheuristic algorithms have shown strong advantages in solving real application problems, and excellent metaheuristic algorithms have emerged in recent years. The Willow Catkin Optimization (WCO) algorithm is a novel metaheuristic algorithm for modeling willow reproductive behavior, which has a simple structure, is easy to implement, and has excellent search capability. In this paper, the WCO algorithm is employed to address the coverage problem of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in 2D and 3D environments and the experimental results are compared with other classical algorithms and lates proposed algorithms, and the experimental results show that the WCO algorithm has excellent performance in solving the node coverage problem.