![]() Just imagine a season where every major meet is likely to produce a sub-4:00 performance, if not multiple. “I’d say at least double the guys that did it last year ,” Jones said.Ī talented crew like this would presumably create an amount of hype that the sport has never seen before. No matter the specifics, we are likely going to see a staggering amount of sub-4:00 performances in 2023. Also joining this group could be Kole Mathison (Carmel HS, IN), who won the Champs Sports National XC Championships in December, as well as runners like Clay Shively (Wichita Trinity Academy, KS), Marcus Reilly (Northbridge HS, MA), Hunter Jones (Benzie Central HS, MI), and Drew Griffith (Butler HS, PA). Of course, Aaron Sahlman, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, has a great chance to break 4:00, as do his Newbury Park teammates, Lex and Leo Young. Raphael Academy, Rhode Island), who finished a few places behind Burns at Boston, sits at third in the US at 4:01.04. Just behind Burns is Rocky Hansen, the North Carolina cross country state champion and Wake Forest commit who boasts a 4:00.84 PR. “People expect it and they probably expect a lot more, as I would myself,” Birnbaum said.īeyond the two future Oregon Ducks mentioned above, this year’s group of sub-4:00 runners will almost certainly run deep. It’s only natural to question just how special the feat is today. But now it is for multiple, seemingly every year. Sub-4:00 has almost never been an expectation for a high school runner. The circumstances surrounding these two make this season unique. ![]() Both of them broke 4:00 as juniors last year, a feat not accomplished since Jim Ryun did it in 1964, and Burns already clocked a 3:59 this year at the Boston University Last Chance Invitational on Feb. Of course, the first evidence of this comes in the form of Connor Burns (Southern Boone County HS, MO) and Simeon Birnbaum (Rapid City Stevens HS, SD). Thanks to a variety of factors, the sub-four mile exploded last year, perhaps making it less revered.įrom the first few months of 2023, it looks as if things will continue this way. The previous record for the most sub-fours in a single season was just two, which itself was a more recent phenomenon, only being achieved in 20. In 2022, five athletes ran 3:59 or faster. Six years after Teare, high school track is in an entirely different headspace, thanks in no small part to one of the craziest seasons the sport has ever seen. In an interview with Milesplit before the race, Teare said that his race wasn’t “a race to win,” but one to see who among them could break 4:00 (ultimately, no one did Teare ran 4:02.56 and came in 2nd place).Īlthough such a sentiment seems contrary to the idea of racing in general, this approach was common in a time when the sub-4:00 mile was still the holy grail of racing. Racing against some of the fastest high school athletes in the country including Casey Clinger, Sam Worley and Waleed Suliman, Teare seemed poised to get his mark, and that was arguably the most important thing on his mind. Teare’s campaign arguably came to a head at one of the premier meets of the year, the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle, Washington. Throughout the spring, the future Oregon star achieved some of the best marks the sport has ever seen at a high school level, including four times under 4:03, but he never saw the elusive 3:59 - in fact, the only athlete that season who did was Teare’s future teammate, Reed Brown. Coming into 2017 with a mile PR of 4:06, Teare led a small contingent of elite athletes looking to become the next high school runner to crack the 4:00 barrier, and that “chase” arguably defined his season. Why on earth would things be different now?Īs far as individual seasons go for high school athletes, few have received more publicity than that of Cooper Teare in his senior year. Nothing lasts forever in track and field, but ever since Jim Ryun made history for high school runners in 1964, the sub-4:00 mile’s status as a barrier has consistently been the closest thing the sport has to stable.
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