There’s something magical about a four-minute mile. Even more than 50 years after Roger Bannister first broke the barrier, the pursuit of a four-minute mile holds a special place in sports. It’s one of the things that can make a casual fan have an interest in track and field.
I was at Hayward Field for the 2001 Prefontaine Classic when a balding high school kid named Alan Webb took the track against a field that included world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj. Earlier that year, Webb had been the first high schooler to break four minutes in the mile in 34 years, when he ran 3:59.86 indoors. While the crowd at the Pre Classic is always great, there was an extra buzz that day. Everyone knew what the high school kid was trying to accomplish – breaking the 36-year-old high school record of 3:55.3 – and what El Guerrouj was trying to accomplish – the first sub-3:50 mile in the U.S., so the level of anticipation for that one race was as high as I’ve ever felt at a sporting event.
As the race developed and it became clear that both of them were going to be close, the roar grew and grew. The climax, when El Guerrouj crossed the finish line in 3:49.92 followed by Webb in fifth in 3:53.43, is the sound I measure any other track crowd against.
While the atmosphere Saturday evening at Hayward Field wasn’t quite the same thing, the mile and an attempt to go sub-four were the center of attention.
When the field for the mile race at the Oregon Relays was announced, and then when it was announced that crowd-favorite Galen Rupp would be joining it, there was a sense of anticipation. Conversations I had with friends about the meet invariably revolved around the mile and if Rupp could go sub-four. That, combined with the fact that several runners who had already gone sub-four were in the field, gave the race a sense of inevitability that something special was going to happen.
And something special did happen. Not what everybody was expecting or necessarily hoping for – a sub-four from Rupp – but what was brewing in Andrew Wheating’s stomach.
Wheating said he was “nervous like none other” going up against Rupp and the elite field, but has a history of stepping up when he feels subpar. With 250 meters to go, he sat in fifth place but then, like he was shot from a cannon, took off and never looked back.
When he crossed the line in 3:58.16, he couldn’t believe his eyes. “I can’t believe this just happened,” he said he thought at the time.
The performance created a buzz. As I was standing down by the finish line at the media tent as people were filing out, the topic of most conversations I overheard was Wheating’s mile. Even the next day, that’s what many of my friends were talking about.
Wheating said Saturday that one of his first goals when he arrived on campus was to run under four minutes. Now he stands 11th on Oregon’s all-time list and the 30th Duck to ever go under that barrier.
There’s a reason Oregon keeps a list of all its sub-four minute milers instead of just a top-10 like it does for every other event. There’s a reason there’s a list of all 199 sub-four performances at the Pre Classic. People care. There’s something special about it. And Andrew Wheating created that for the 6,875 fans that came out Saturday.
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4:00.00 is not your typical milestone
Daily Emerald
April 29, 2008
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