Should Michigan ‘Bring Back the Mile’ to high school track competition?
"Even though it is not my primary distance, it is still a goal of mine to break 4 minutes." - Dathan Ritzenhein
By Cory Olsen, Grand Rapids Press
If it were up to Ryan Lamppa, everyone would be able to run a mile. Well, not just a mile, The Mile.
Since the early 1980s when metric took over track & field, the Mile was out, the 1600m was in. Lamppa believes high school athletes have been shorted in their quest to make history: break the 4-minute Mile.
"There's something about the Mile," Lamppa said. "I've had a real passion for it. It's a very American distance."
Lamppa talks about growing up and starting to run as a youth, reading "The Jim Ryun Story," and becoming inspired by the first high school boy to break the 4-minute Mile mark. That inspiration still lives in Lamppa, you can hear it in his voice when he talks about the distance. It's very much who he is.
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