Nine Washington Men Plunged Under The Four-Minute Barrier; Gabija Galvydyte Concludes Impressive Weekend With 4:27.96

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Ken Martinez photos

VIDEOS | RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

SEATTLE – Nathan Green led nine men in Washington Huskies uniforms under the four-minute barrier on Saturday at the Mile City event at Dempsey Indoor

Green ran a new personal best 3:50.74 and broke the track record, running a second faster than the time Luke Houser ran last year (3:51.73). Houser broke Joe Waskom’s record of 3:51.90 from 2023.

Those are now the three fastest times in collegiate history on oversized flat tracks.

“I feel fit, I feel healthy. Just excited for what’s next,” said Green, the 2023 NCAA outdoor 1,500 meters champion.

Veteran pro Sam Prakel of adidas was second in 3:51.28 and a trio of Huskies followed in the overall tabulation of results: Ronan McMahon-Staggs (3:51.85), Cole Lindhorst (3:55.04) and Leo Daschbach (3:55.64).

When eight Washington men ran sub-four in the same Dempsey race two years ago, Green was one of them. He is the only Husky who was part of that historic effort as well as Saturday’s.

“I’m trying to take (the young) guys up the way older guys took me up. I’m just trying to be what my mentors were to me.”

Waskom ended up sixth in 3:56.33. Current Washington runners Rhys Hammond (3:58.15), Acer Iverson (3:58.23), Thomas Diamond (3:58.46), Evan Jenkins (3:58.48) and Jamar Distel (3:59.32) contributed to the team effort. 

Gabija Galvydyte, a newcomer to the Nike Bowerman Project, won the women’s invitational mile with a time of 4:27.96. She was coming back from an impressive 2:35.70 in the 1,000 meters on Friday.

Grace Fetherstonhaugh was second in 4:30.09 and Kristie Schoffield caught Stanford Olympian Juliette Whittaker for third with 4:31.55. Whittaker, a Paris Games finalist in the 800, ran 4:31.72 in her first track race since finishing seventh at the Olympic Games.

There were 772 finishers in the men’s and women’s mile competitions on Saturday in the second Mile City, which concluded the traditional UW Indoor Preview.

Crater High OR seniors Josiah Tostenson and Tayvon Kitchen ran the two fastest high school miles in the country so far this winter in the second of the five invitational men’s mile heats.

Tostenson, who had been spiked and lost his rhythm on the final lap of Friday’s 1,000 meters race, made sure the trip north from Central Point, Ore. ended on a positive note.

Kitchen, coming back from a big effort in Friday’s 3,000 (8:02.02), ran a personal best 4:04.96 for US#2.

Chloe Huyler of Pacer Project (Lakeridge OR) ran a time of 4:46.83 for a US#1 and finishing 22nd overall in the women's field. Victoria Rodriguez of Mercer Island WA ran US#3 4:49.61.