By Kyle Merber
January 31, 2024
Trigger Warning: If you are justifiably sick and tired of American men talking about the sub-four mile, then just skip over this section entirely rather than unsubscribing to this newsletter. For what it’s worth, I tend to agree: it’s enough already! But in my defense – and for those who have no idea who the author of this newsletter that you signed up for is – that was my event so it’s more of a personal reflection than me being in love with Roger Bannister.
On January 26th, the 16th fastest time in the NCAA (which qualifies for nationals) is 3:55.53 – the best in history. Here is how that stacks up against full seasons of years past:
Because I’m edited by Ned Flanders…
Hug, Marry, Chuck: Altitude, BU, and oversized tracks?
12 out of the 16 fastest men’s mile times this year came with one of those asterisks. But in this newsletter, we BELIEVE CONVERSIONS and my personal best is from BU, so I’m inclined to not care about said asterisks too much.
There is not another men’s event in the NCAA where the guaranteed qualifying mark for this year has already surpassed last year’s standard. The only women’s event where 2024 has bested 2023 is the 5000m, which is largely skewed by the 12 athletes who raced immediately after the cross country season.
For comparison to the women’s mile, the 2024 time to beat is 4:34.37 vs. 4:33.14 from last season. So what’s going on with the men’s mile?
At one point in time, the magic of the four-minute barrier propelled athletes to push themselves and believe in their ability to do something that was once thought impossible blah blah blah! And simply running under that mark meant something of a consolation prize. I think of my senior year at Columbia when I ran 3:59 to win our last chance meet. While it was disappointing to not make NCAAs, I still had, “hey, I broke four though!” in my back pocket.
Running under four minutes in the mile was cool for a lot of people. But for others with higher ceilings, it was a crutch used to prop up sub-par races to make them appear like good ones. Now that mystique has faded as the accomplishment becomes more commonplace, college guys are no longer being held back by an arbitrary time that once pushed them. To paraphrase Justin Timberlake playing Sean Parker in The Social Network, “Running 3:59 isn’t cool anymore… you know what’s cool? Running 3:55.”
Kyle Merber
After hanging up his spikes – but never his running shoes – Kyle pivoted to the media side of things, where he shares his enthusiasm, insights, and experiences with subscribers of The Lap Count newsletter, as well as viewers of CITIUS MAG live shows.
