Three American high school boys ran a mile in under four minutes inside the same race on Thursday night in St. Louis, an outcome that has happened only a handful of times in the history of the sport, according to coverage of the meet by Runner’s World.
The race was the boys’ high school mile at the Hoka Festival of Miles, an annual meet that has built its reputation on producing fast times. Jackson Spencer, a senior bound for Brigham Young University, led from the front and crossed the line in 3:57.24. The time set a new meet record and moved Spencer to fourth on the all-time list for high school outdoor milers.
Behind him, Carter Smith, an Oklahoma State commit, ran 3:59 flat for second place. Brian Burns, who is headed to the University of North Carolina, took third in 3:59.70. All three are now part of a very short list of high schoolers who have broken the four-minute barrier.
It was the fourth time in meet history that at least two high schoolers have broken four minutes at the Festival of Miles in the same race, Runner’s World reported. The most recent occurrence came in 2023, when four boys, Simeon Birnbaum, Rocky Hansen, Tinoda Matsatsa and Jackson Heidesch, all finished under the barrier. The depth of the field on Thursday is the latest reminder of how quickly the high school ranks are catching up to the pros, a trend underlined earlier this year when 15-year-old Sam Ruthe became the youngest person to ever run a sub-4 mile.
Spencer’s mark was fast enough to nearly win the men’s professional race that followed. Isaac Basten took the pro mile in 3:57.01 and collected the $5,000 first prize. Kasey Knevelbaard matched Spencer’s 3:57.24 to the hundredth of a second to share second place in the pro field, earning $2,500.
Spencer arrived in St. Louis with a bigger goal in mind. He wanted to break Alan Webb’s national high school mile record of 3:53.43, which has stood since 2001. He fell short of that mark but kept his undefeated streak intact and signaled that the record is still in his sights this summer. For context on how the rest of us stack up, our guide to a good mile time by age and sex and our 1 mile pace chart put Spencer’s splits in perspective.
In a post-race interview with Dyestat, Spencer said he was satisfied with the effort if not the clock. “I’m proud of the effort, and I’m glad I was able to go all-out in a race… I just wish the time was faster,” he told the outlet. “I think [the record is] still within reach. I just need to get fully back into the swing of things.”
The girls’ mile produced its own headline earlier in the evening. Ellery Lincoln, a high school junior, ran 4:27.65 to become the third-fastest high school girl in history over the distance, per Runner’s World. Her run lands in the middle of an ongoing conversation about how close women are to their own four-minute barrier, recently in the spotlight with Faith Kipyegon’s Breaking4 attempt and the science behind whether a sub-4-minute mile is possible for women.
For anyone who follows the high school ranks, Thursday in St. Louis offered a snapshot of how deep the talent at the mile has become. The sub-four-minute mile was once the territory of a single phenom in a generation. On one Missouri night, three of them ran it almost shoulder to shoulder. For runners chasing their own breakthrough, our guides to running a faster mile and structuring mile repeats are the place to start.
