Portland Mile - Chasin' the Sub-4 Dream!
America's prep miling madness continues!

Photo courtesy of Steve Bence
Oregon prep Galen Rupp (left, in the cardinal-colored shorts) shadows Kenyan Joseph Mwai
with some 400 meters to go during the assault on the sub-4-minute mile Thursday night.

By Rich Gonzalez
Editor, DyeStatCal
     ----- So this is what we have come to? A pair of teens digging deep into the well of the all-time prep mile performance lists, and actually eliciting a sense of disappointment in the aftermath?
       Oh where, oh where have the days of frenzy surrounding a head-turning sub-4:05 effort gone...
       They've gone by the wayside -- as a youth distance-running resurgence continues!
       With Shadrack Kiptoo (4:02.65, #10 HS performer all-time ) and Galen Rupp (4:03.09, #14 HS performer all-time) essentially closing out the deepest 10-year stint in prep miling history, the duo become the 7th and 8th U.S.-based high schoolers to eclipse 4:03.5 for the full mile since 1995, a time barrier not reached even a single time during the 20-year span preceding it.
        "This is something else,' quipped local coach Matthew Call of Portland's La Salle High School, moments after the race. "You have one guy run 4:02 and another run 4:03 in one of the fastest high school races ever, and yet the crowd out here seemed to want even more."
        Although bent on becoming the fifth and sixth high schoolers to break the revered four-minute-mile barrier is U.S. history, New Mexico's Shadrack Kiptoo and Oregon's Galen Rupp came up a few ticks short in placing second and third, respectively, in a hastily-assembled mile time trial assault on the Lincoln High School track in downtown Portland late Thursday evening.
        As it turned out, the rabbit was almost as much the post-race focus as the prepsters.
        Under temperatures in the upper 60s and lightly gusting winds, the 10-person field followed the lead of hired pacesetter Joseph Mwai of Kenya, flashing through the 1/4-mile checkpoints in reported splits of 60.1, 2:00.4 and 3:00.7 for the leader, with Rupp said to be within a stride or two during the middle laps and actually well within himself early on.
         Rupp came directly onto the shoulder of the other designated rabbit, Joseph Koskei, at one point on the third revolution of the track, with Kiptoo estimated to be about four yards behind. Rupp attempted to make a pass on Koskei on the turn along the start of the last lap, with a trio of post-race eyewitnesses in separate accounts saying it seemed Koskei picked up the pace at that point, causing Rupp to temporarily change his stride and run a bit wide. This echoed accounts that Rupp also seeming to chop his stride multiple times while stalking Koskei on the third lap before that episode on the turn.
         Kiptoo, who clocked a 3:51.55 for 1500m at high altitude in late May (a converted high 4:01 mile at sea level under the older Track & Field News conversion ratios), began shearing away the deficit along the final 300 meters, with Coach Eddy Hellebuyck barking out commands during the final moments.
         Koskei was able to withstand Rupp's final surge to eventually wheel home for the victory in a low 4:02 (an exact time for Koskei still eludes us), with Kiptoo closing strongly to snare Rupp in the last 15 meters.

Photo courtesy of Steve Bence
Kiptoo, arms raised, slipped past Rupp in the final strides to place second.

         Despite not breaking the 4-minute barrier, the duo combined to post the second-fastest U.S.-based prep miling performance combo ever, averaging 4:02.87 for the top two positions (and Rupp setting a best-for-second-place-position record of 4:03.09 in the process). In 1997, Virginia's Sharif Karie (4:02.01) topped Wisconsin's Gabe Jennings (4:03.27) for the fastest same-race duo (4:02.64 average) in prep history.

Fastest U.S. Mile Races For High Schoolers

        The miling performance means eight preps have dipped under 4:03.50 from the 10-year stint 1995 to 2004, further distancing itself from the previous best 10-year block of five sub-4:03.50 clockings from 1965 to 1974. By contrast, not a single prep beat that cutoff from 1975 to 1996. Alan Webb (3:53.43 in 2001) joined previous sub-4:00 milers Jim Ryun (3:55.3 in 1965), Tim Danielson (3:59.4 in 1966), and Marty Liquori (3:59.8 in 1967) after a 34-year drought. In recent years, such prep stars as Don Sage (4:00.29 in 2000) and Steve Magness (4:01.02 in 2003) have also dabbled excitingly close to the storied barrier.

Photo courtesy of Steve Bence
Although New Mexico prep Shadrack Kiptoo (La Cueva HS) performed well enough to steal
the show, it was local hero Galen Rupp (Central Catholic HS, Portland) that remained the
center of attention in the sub-4:00 mile bid at Lincoln High School in downtown Portland.

         Rupp, who departs this weekend for Europe to take part in the World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, initially planned to attack the 4-minute barrier at the Harry Jerome in Vancouver on July 1st. But the lengthy post-race processing routine after the U.S. Junior Championhips in College Station, TX., and a subsequent airline delay after a long drive to Houston International Airport left Rupp exhausted, nixing those plans. Rupp, however, might entertain thoughts of a final bid at a sub-4:00 mile, possibly overseas in the days following the conclusion of the Junior meet. "With (distance coach) Alberto (Salazar), they might definitely consider it if things go pretty well in Italy," said Dave Frank, the head trach coach at Central Catholic, where Rupp recently graduated from.
          Kiptoo, who thoroughly dominated New Mexico competition while under restricted transfer residence eligibility as a junior, made the most of his senior-year opportunities. He placed third at the Foot Locker Cross-Country National Championships despite nursing a bum knee (doctors suggested season-ending surgery in the days leading up to the race), winning the Adidas Outdoor Championships two mile in a nation-leading time, then posting the national leader here!
           Stuart Eagon, another of Salazar's training disciples, was reported to have close well down in the race's waning moments to run an estimated time in the 4:11 range.

Photo courtesy of Steve Bence
Nike Founder and Chairman Phil Knight was on hand to lend his support, sporting one of
these trendy "Stop Rupp" T-shirts in the process! It was DyeStat TrackTalk member
Ryan McCune ("goloxc" board name) who sold almost his entire stock of shirts at the Oregon
state meet and at last night's meet. "Wow, it was so awesome," said McCune, "cause he just
walked up like nothing and is like, 'Hey, those are awesome. I have to get one.' I look at my
friend, and am just like, 'Is that... #%$@&$ Phil Knight!??!' "   McCune initially sold the shirts
Thursday from the trunk of his car in the parking lot, in the same fashion Knight started the
company years ago -- by selling shoes from the trunk of his car! "They cost  like $300 to make the shirts," said McCune, "and I've sold $900 worth, so like 600 bucks gross!" (Knight would be proud).

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Still only four at Sub-Four...

Photo by John Dye
The famed "Sub-Four-Minute Club"
(L-to-R) Jim Ryun, Tim Danielson, Marty Liquori and Alan Webb.

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Pre-race coverage!

   
Joseph Mwai (far left), who has twice rabbited outstanding distance efforts in recent weeks,
will be entrusted with the pace-setting duties. World-class Kenyan Joseph Koskei, who ran
13:16.83 for 5k at Stanford in late May, will then strive to pull the crew across in sub-4:00!

By Rich Gonzalez, For DyeStat.com
EDS: Updates with start list changes, rabbit directives, time confirmation, and notation of free admission.
       -- Only a mere four teenagers in the annals of American high school distance running have ever cracked the elusive four-minute barrier for the full mile. Tonight, there could very well be two more.
           Just when it seemed the calendar was closing on the chance to smash the sub-4-minute mile prep barrier, high school phenoms Galen Rupp and Shadrack Kiptoo have decided to take another quality stab at the fathomed barrier, meeting in Portland this Thursday night for a chance to race into history!
           Stuart Eagon, who identifies along with Rupp as training disciples of Coach Alberto Salazar, will also be in the announced 10-person field, which features three preps, one rabbit, a sub-3:55 miler, and two others who have bettered the U.S. Olympic Trials provisional qualifying standard of 3:43.00 for 1500 meters.
            The single race is set with a confirmed 9 p.m. start (PST) and will take place at the Lincoln High School track in downtown Portland. Admission to the event is free.
            It was learned that an attempt was made by Salazar to try and lure several other top preps from across the national landscape for the sub-4:00 bid, but with most of those talents already "shutting down" after their lengthy high school seasons, the prep portion of the field ended up being comprised solely of local talents Rupp and Eagon, and the New Mexico-based Kiptoo, who had been in search of 4-minute-mile opportunities this spring.

THE FIELD:
            Joseph Mwai, who successfully rabbited Canadian Kevin Sullivan's Olympic A-standard qualifying run of 3:35.92 last month, was also hired as the rabbit for the 1500-meter run at the Prefontaine Classic three weeks ago, when seven runners broke 3:40! He and former Lincoln High standout Mike McGrath will carry the burden of bringing the pack across at a swift-yet-effective early pace.
            Pacesetting is an artful task, one which Mwai has measurable experience in. At Prefontaine, Mwai was among the rabbits that toured the tempo along in a reported 55.2 for 400 meters before easing to a 1:56-and-change for 800 meters, setting the table for the strong finishes that then played out. The proposed plan here is to have the rabbits carry the field across at a 59.5-second clip per each of the initial 440-yard segments.
           Once the early pace has been established, look for Kenyan talent Joseph Koskei and possibly Mwai to work the group into sub-4:00 pacing the rest of the way, with the veteran contingent no doubt focusing part of their efforts on carrying the young preps to their goal. Koskei has the stamina and experience to carry a hot field, with his recent 13:16.83 5000-meter victory in a meet at Stanford in late May being testament to his current fitness. By contrast, no American has bettered 13:20 for 5k this year.
           Rupp, who qualified for next week's World Juniors Championships in Italy at 5000 meters, courts a lifetime best of 4:01.8 for the full mile, coming at a special exhibition race on the Nike World Headquarters campus in nearby Beaverton, Ore., in early May. Kiptoo, who raced to the national 2-mile prep title in 8:45.44 at the recent Adidas Outdoor Championships in Raleigh, N.C., has raced to a seasonal-best 3:51.55 for 1500m at high altitude in Albuquerque one month ago. Eagon, who will join the powerful University of Wisconsin program in the fall, timed an 4:11.45 for the full mile at the Centennial Invitational in April.
            Also in the field are Jim Sorenson (3:42.40 in 2004) and Ryan Ponsonby (3:42.85 in 2004), who have satisfied the U.S. Olympic Trials provisional standard at 1500 meters, but do not project to receive USOT invitations based on the limited number of berths granted into the heats. Ryan Woods (3:43.70 in 2004) and Robert Vermillion (3:44.79) also join fellow Farm Team track club member Sorenson in this fine field.