Matthew Maton 聽at the Oregon Twilight Meet on Friday in Eugene. The 19-year-old high school senior became the sixth U.S. prep ever to break four minutes in the mile.
Maton, who ran 3:42.54 in the聽1,500-meter聽(the equivalent of a 4:00 mile)聽at the Oregon Relays , went into the race with the stated goal of running under the mark.
鈥淚 knew you鈥檙e not supposed to fixate on running sub-four if you鈥檙e going to do it,鈥 Maton , 鈥渂ut I would have been disappointed if I didn鈥檛 do it.鈥
Despite still being in high school, Maton does not currently run for his school, having quit the Summit (Oregon) team in April . He currently trains alone and plans to run for the University of Oregon in the fall.
The first U.S. high school runner to break the four-minute barrier was Jim Ryun in 1965. Alan Webb, the current American record聽holder in that聽distance, was the fastest prep ever, with a 3:53.43 mark set in 2001. Lukas Verzbicas was the last to break four, running 3:59.71 in 2011.聽