Four magical minutes still a fast track to fame

Maton, Fisher, Hunter all join exclusive club in span of 10 months

By Parker West for DyeStat

In the span of 10 months, the number of all-time sub-four high school milers has blossomed from five to eight as Matthew Maton, Grant Fisher and Andrew Hunter have dipped under the magical standard.

But is 4 minutes becoming the new 4:05?

Not so fast. Author Jeff Hollobaugh, who wrote the book How to Race the Mile last year, does not expect to see new sub-four high school milers on a regular basis. It's still a a very hard thing to do. (Note: How To Race The Mile: Learning Effective Tactics from Great Runners and Races was honored by the Track and Field Writers of America with its Book Award last week).

“I honestly don’t think the floodgates will open,” Hollobaugh said, “They (Maton, Fisher, and Hunter) each popped up independently of each other, kind of organically. Can you actually draw a line and say, Andrew’s doing it this year because those guys did it last year? I’m not sure if you can.”

To recap, on May 8 of last year, Maton of Bend, Ore. ran at the Oregon Twilight Meet in a field  that included Oregon standouts Eric Jenkins and Will Geohegan. The race was also paced by Mac Fleet, a former NCAA champion. Running on his future home track at Hayward Field, and buoyed by an earlier 1,500 meters result of 3:42, Maton was ready to run fast. That’s exactly what he did, going 3:59.38 for No. 3 all-time and became the sixth high schooler to join the club. 

Weeks later, after nearly getting under four minutes at the Michigan state meet, Fisher entered in the Nike Festival of Miles in St. Louis. Professional Jordan McNamara was race favorite but everyone’s eyes were fixed on the senior from Grand Blanc. Like Maton, he finished third overall in a race full of older, accomplished runners. Also like Maton, the finish time that flashed on the board was 3:59.38.

For Maton and Fisher, the sub-four race was a singular moment in their promising careers. Maton suffered a nagging injury that took him out of racing for almost two months. At the adidas Dream Mile, Fisher won the high school-only race in 4:01.73, with Hunter second in 4:02.36.

By early February of this year, Hunter, now a senior at Loudoun Valley High School in Virginia, was poised to do something special. He had a Foot Locker title and the indoor high school record in the 3,000 meters under his belt. 

At the Armory Track Invitational in New York, Hunter used the opportunity to run in a fast field to make his bid for sub-four. Hunter, like Fisher, stayed back and slowly moved up through the race. He closed with a fast 57 seconds and hit the tape in 3:58.25 (Watch race on USATF.tv). Two weeks later, Hunter returned to the Armory for the Millrose Games with hopes to run even faster. He did exactly that, running 3:57.81 (Watch race on USATF.tv), later admitting to feeling congested and not feeling well.

Jim Ryun shot to instant stardom when he broke the four-minute barrier for East High in Kansas in 1964. He ran five sub-four miles in high school and set world records a year out of high school in 1966. It took more than 40 years for the sub-four club to reach five. 

With three more coming in rapid succession, it seems that a new era has dawned. How has this happened?

“Maybe the question isn’t ‘Why is it becoming so commonplace?’ but ‘What was going wrong before?’” Hollobaugh said. “There have been years where it just wasn’t happening.”

Hollobaugh sees several factors at play, including competitive results by Americans such as Matthew Centrowitz and Leo Manzano at the international level.  

“We have these world class role models to look up to and maybe that’s a part of it,” he said.

Hunter, who accepted the Gatorade Boys National Cross Country Runner of the Year award on Wednesday in ceremony with fellow sub-four miler Alan Webb, said that younger athletes are learning to train smarter than ever before.

“I think people are learning how to train properly and learning what it takes,” Hunter said.

Hollobaugh believes that Hunter would have gone sub-four even in the absence of Fisher and Maton.  

“Hunter would have done it anyway this year," Hollobaugh said. "He is in such dominant shape, it’s scary."

Better access to high level coaching and competitve, fast races are also factors that play into this new cluster of sub-four milers. All three also have parents who were elite runners.

“I think the information is out there, but what I think is the bigger factor that makes it easier is more and more you get top high schoolers who aren’t stopping at the state meet,” Hollobaugh said. “More and more they’re seeing opportunities for high level competition, occasionally squeezing into open and collegiate races, but there is the adidas Dream Mile, the Brooks PR meet, the New Balance Nationals, all of those events make it a much easier world than it was if you time travel back to the 1980s.”

Hunter stated this week that there is no substitute for hard work. He sees that as a common denominator that ties him to Maton and Fisher.

“We are all willing to put in the work, train smart, and do what it takes to run that (fast). No one has ability that's so much greater than the others,” he said.

No matter how many high schoolers achieve the milestone, it will always be special, Hollobaugh said.

“Just because there are eight high schoolers to go sub-four, I mean what kid wouldn’t give his right arm to be No. 10, 20, or 30? It’s always going to feel special,” he said. “I think every distance runner who is good, even if they’re not a mile specialist, kinda feels like they’d like to have that sub-four in their back pocket just for fun.”

Hunter may have arrived at sub-four all on his own, but he does credit Maton and and Fisher for lighting  a fire. 

“It was really inspiring," Hunter said of following the results in the spring of 2015. "After I saw that, I thought ‘OK. I’ve got one goal for next year and hopefully I can join the club.'”