An
American Renaissance in the Middle Distances?
James Dunaway for IAAF
14 April 2001 - On January 20, when 18-year-old Virginia high school student Alan Webb ran a 3:59.86 mile in New York City, it was bigger news in the United States than most world records would have been.
Americans – to whom the mile is the most important event in athletics -- were reminded that the last time an American high school boy had broken 4 minutes was 1967, when Marty Liquori finished eighth in 3:59.8 behind Jim Ryun’s world record 3:51.1.
But it’s been more than 25 years since Ryun, and then Liquori, stood at the top of the world rankings in the 1,500/mile.
Ryun’s high school mile record of 3:55.3, set in 1965, still stands.
Sydney Maree’s national 1,500-meter record, 3:29.77, set in 1985, still stands.
Steve Scott’s American record for the mile, 3:47.69, set in 1982, still stands.
The last American medal in an Olympic or World Championships 1500 was Jim Spivey’s bronze at Rome in 1987.
Now, suddenly, Americans are wondering if Alan Webb’s sub-four mile could signal the start of a renaissance in American middle distance running.
A lot of people think so. Webb is only one of a number of a new breed of young American runners who aren’t afraid to train really hard, to run the extra miles required to excel, and to race really fast.
“It’s a new mind set,” says Vin Lananna, the athletics coach of Stanford University. At last summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials, Stanford runners placed 1-3-4 in the men’s 1,500 and second in the 5,000. “Our kids are thinking globally now. Not just ‘What will it take to be an American champion, but what will it take to win at the international level?’ ”
Over the last two decades, says Lananna, with few exceptions, American middle distance runners had been satisfied to win at home, and perhaps to make the national team for the World championships or the Olympics – to win races where they jogged for three laps and then sprinted for the tape.
“When they’d get to the big races, they’d find the field going through 1200 meters in 2:52 – and they’d never gone that fast in their lives. But if you want to run 3:27 or 3:28, you have to run 2:52. You have to be able to go out fast.”
Marty Liquori, a frequent commentator on American athletics telecasts, agrees. “I think there’s a resurgence,” he says, “especially at the high school level. For years, lots of runners weren’t willing to make the effort; suddenly, there are a lot of people who are willing to make the effort.”
Joe Newton, perhaps the leading American high school coach of the past 30 years, says, “I’ve been criticized because I had my runners train hard and run lots of mileage. They said I was burning them out.
But then you’d hear about the Kenyans – also 17 or 18 years old – working three times as hard as we were.
Now American teenagers have begun to realize they have to work a lot harder – and it’s starting to pay off.”
Their role models are the Kenyans – and Steve Prefontaine, who is an icon for his front-running tactics.. Donald Sage, a 19-year-old who ran a 4:00.29 mile last year as one of Newton’s a high school runners, says, “I want to run the way Pre ran – hard, right from the gun. If you want to run fast, that’s what you have to do.”
Sage’s 20-year-old Stanford teammate, Andy Powell, ran 3:40.7 for 1500m last year. In the next few months, both should be well under 4:00 and 3:40. Sage says, “My goal for the year is 3:38 or better.”
The longer distances are looking up, too. Two weeks ago, 19-year-old Franklyn Sanchez, who didn’t start running until he was 15, broke Steve Prefontaine’s 30-year-old American junior record by running 5000m in 13:38.39. A week before that, 19-year old Americans Dathan Ritzenhein and Matthew Tegenkamp finished third and fifth in the World Junior Cross Country Championships over 8 km.
Still, when it comes to running, what excites Americans is the mile. It wouldn’t be surprising to see two other 18-year-old high schoolers, Ritzenhein and Ryan Hall of California, join Webb as sub-four milers by midsummer. Or to see five or six Americans running sub 3:35 this year. That will be the test.
Meanwhile, here are some others to keep an eye on:
Seneca
Lassiter, 24,
who ran 3:33.72 for 1500m and 1:45.51in 1999.
Olympic semifinalists Michael Stember, 23, who ran 3:35.11 and 1:46.20 last year, and Gabe
Jennings, 22, 3:35.21 and 1:46.99 in 2000.
Bryan Berryhill, 23, with a 1:46.98 800m and a 3:56.52 mile, and Charlie Gruber, 22, a
3:58.51 miler with a 1:46.99 800m time.
Finally, two young runners with talent over an exceptional range: Jonathan Riley, 22, who has run 3:38.90 for 1,500, 13:36.69 for 5,000 and 28:33.71 for 10,000; and Matt Lane, 23, who over the same distances has run 3:43.60, 13:27.24, and 28:28.97.