Mile Moment of the Month: Epic Prep Sub-4 Races
HOKA ONE ONE presents the Mile Moment of the Month
By Bring Back the Mile
On June 11, 2011, Lukas Verzbicas became only the fifth U.S. high school athlete and the second in a high school-only race to break 4 minutes for the Mile with his winning 3:59.71 clocking at the adidas Dream Mile in New York. June, which is the peak of the track & field season for elite prep Milers, has seen its incredible share of Mile moments throughout the month. In fact, all first U.S. high school sub-4 Miles, except for one (Alan Webb, 2001), came in the month of June.
For June's Mile Moment of the Month, we take a look at five epic races involving U.S. prep athletes:
June 5, 1964: 50-plus years ago, Jim Ryun becomes the first school boy to break 4 minutes with his 3:59.0 in Compton, California; he finished 8th overall; it was also the first time that 8 runners broke 4 minutes in the same race – old record was six.
June 11, 2011: Lukas Verzbicas becomes only the fifth U.S. high schooler and the second in a high school-only race to break 4 minutes for the Mile with his winning 3:59.71 clocking at the adidas Dream Mile in New York.
June 11, 1966: While running for Chula Vista High School in California, Tim Danielson (below) produced the second high school sub-4 when he ran a 3:59.4 Mile at San Diego’s Balboa Stadium.
June 23, 1967: Jim Ryun (USA) sets Mile world record 3:51.1 in Bakersfield, California; the last men’s outdoor Mile WR set on U.S. soil and Ryun is the last American male to hold the outdoor Mile WR; also in the same race, New Jersey high schooler and future Olympian Marty Liquori clocks 3:59.8, the third U.S. boy to break sub-4.
June 27, 1965: Jim Ryun, at age 18, sets U.S. Mile record 3:55.3 in San Diego – also the U.S. high school record; broken 36 years later by Alan Webb who ran 3:53.43 in 2001; Ryun also won the AAU Mile title and beat 1964 Olympic 1500m champion Peter Snell in a thrilling race. Wow, youth is served!
