Ohio schoolboys who have gone on to break 4 minutes for one mile

S

State The Obvious

Active member
The Bob Schul Invite is coming up in August and in honor of the first Ohio schoolboy to go on to break 4 minutes in the mile, here is a list of the 21 runners ( now 30) who attended high school in Ohio who then went on to break 4 minutes for the mile later on in their careers.

Listed with name, year they first broke 4 min and who they ran for when they broke 4 min. In parenthesis is the HS they attended.

UPDATED 2/5/23

1. Bob Schul 1964 Miami (Milton-Union)
2. Dave Wottle 1970 BGSU (Canton Lincoln)
3. Reggie McAfee 1973 UNC (Cincinnati Courtier Tech)
4. Steve Foster 1975 Florida TC (Madison)
5. Tom Byers 1981 Athletics West (Columbus North)
6. Kevin Ryan 1983 Athletics West (Cleve. St. Joseph)
7. Roosevelt Jackson 1988 Reebok (Orwell Grand Valley)
8. Bob Kennedy f1991 Indiana (Westerville North)
9. Mark Dailey 1993 New York AC (Lakewood St. Edward)
10. Rob Myers 2003 Ohio State (Lancaster Fairfield Union)

11. Ian Connor 2003 Nike (Galion Northmor)
12. Chris Estwanick 2004 Nike Farm Team (Dublin Coffman)
13. Jeff See 2007 Unattached (Middletown)
14. Tony Jordanek 2010 Unattached (Lexington)
15. Mack Chaffee 2011 Ragged Mountain TC (Chagrin Falls)
16. Cory Leslie 2011 Ohio State (Sandusky Perkins)
17. Brannon Kidder 2013 Penn State (Lancaster)
18. Chris Fallon 2013 Ohio State (Copley)
19. Jake Edwards 2014 Columbus RC (Delaware Hayes)
20. Eric Finan 2014 Team Minnesota (New Richmond)

21. Colby Alexander 2014 Oregon (Strongsville)
22. Clayton Murphy 2016 Akron (Tri Village)
23. Sam Prakel 2016 Oregon (Versailles)
24. Mick Stanovsek 2018 Oregon (ND Cathedral Latin)
25. Kyle Mau 2018 Indiana. (Hudson)
26. Michael Hall 2018 Florida State (St. Xavier)
27. Willy Fink 2018 VT Elite (Maumee)
28. Ryan Adams 2020 Furman University (CVCA)
29. Jacob Dumford 2020 Under Armour/District TC (Westerville N)
30. Lucas Bons 2021 BYU (Dublin Coffman)

31. Elliott Cook 2022 Oregon (Dublin Jerome)
32. Arjun Jha. 2023. Michigan (Worthington)
33. Anthony Camerieri 2023 Ole Miss (Brecksville)
34. Chad Johnson 2023 Iowa State (N.Robinson Col. Crawford)

Of the 34 athletes on the list, 21 broke 4 min for the first time while still running for their college team (or in their redshirt year).
(Schul, Wottle, McAfee, Kennedy, Myers, See, Leslie, Kidder, Fallon, Alexander, Murphy, Prakel, Mau, Stanovsek, Hall, Adams, Bonn, Cook, and Jha, Camerieri, and Johnson).

Of the 34 athletes on the list, 9 have gone on to qualify for the 1500 meter final in the USA Championship Meet at least once (getting thru the heats to the championship race).
(Wottle, McAfee, Ryan, Byers, Myers, See, Alexander, Murphy, Prakel)

Ohioans who have made it to the the Olympic Trials 1500 final…Wottle 1972 (2nd)…McAfee 1972 (7th)…Byers 1976 (9th), 1984 (12th)…Ryan 1980 (8th)…Myers 2004 (3rd), 2008 (9th)…See 2012 (9th)…Alexander 2016 (7th), 2021 (8th)…Prakel 2021 (9th).

Reggie McAfee was the first African-American to break 4 in United States history.

Why is Sam Bair missing from the above list? Because he didn't attend HS in Ohio. He was from Pa. He did, however, run sub 4 for Kent State in 1967.
 
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What about Sam Borchers?

I know he did a 4:03 in high school at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.

Did he then never break 4:00 for the mile while at Penn State?

Pretty sure he did a 4:01 his freshman year at Penn State. Not sure what he accomplished after that.
 
Roosevelt Jackson ran for Orwell Grand Valley. State runner up in the 1600 back in 1980.
 
Grand Valley is still there...

...Same guy that set a state record in that race, and twice finished third in the state XC 'A' team race behind Earl Zilles and Corey Frost of WLS...a couple of tough acts to follow.
 
I think we'll be adding Clayton Murphy to that list soon. His 3:40.xx is an easy sub-4 conversion. I'll be surprised if he's not on the list at the end of next indoor season.

Lou Styles could also make his way down there in the next couple year.

Ryan Adams in a few years?

Easy to speculate what might happen I guess.

Nice list. Thanks for the post.
 
Just saw a facebook post by Scott Fry. Fastest 1500 meter runners in Ohio history. He was going by memory so I double checked his stats just to make sure he was correct and he was, almost. He was one second off on one guy and 2 seconds on another. Pretty good memory! Here are the findings:

Rob Myers 3:34.89 run in 2005
Corey Leslie 3:34.93 run in 2013
Jeff See 3:35.21 run in 2012
Dave Wottle 3:36.2 Hand Time run in 1973
Colby Alexander 3:36.56 run in 2015

Current formula for conversion to mile is:
1500 in seconds x 1.08

Based on that formula here are their mile times:

Rob Myers 3:52.08
Corey Leslie 3:52.12
Jeff See 3:52.43
Dave Wottle 3:53.76
Colby Alexander 3:53.88

Tom Byers definitely deserves a mention. Although his fastest 1500 time was "only" 3:37.5 (HT), he ran a mile in 3:50.84. That is the fastest mile in Ohio history for an Ohio native and I believe he's the 11th fastest miler in U.S. history.
 
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Can someone check on 1973 Canton Lincoln & Kent State alum Joe Dubina?

I thought he broke 4 minutes while @ Kent State graduating in 1977 or 78.
 
Checked the Track and Field News website. It lists all the American milers ever to break 4 min. Dubina is not listed. I believe he was in the 4:02 to 4:05 range.
 
Just caught results on LetsRun from the Liberty Road Mile in Pittsburgh last Fri night. There was an elite division of 15 runners, 13 of whom were sub 4 minute milers.

Of interest to Ohio fans was the first ever head to head race between Colby Alexander and Jeff See. Both are having excellent seasons and at race time had run the #10 and #11 1500 meter times in the United States to this point in the season.

From the final times, blanket finish and money up for grabs, it looks most likely to have been a typical wait and kick, kickers race, which is right up See's alley!

Final result had See over Alexander by 3 tenths of a second!

FINAL RESULTS

Jordan McNamara 3:58.50 ($4000)
Mac Fleet 3:58.93 ($2500)
Jack Bolas 3:59.12 ($1000)
Jeff See 3:59.31 ($750)
Colby Alexander 3:59.68 ($500)

Lex Williams 4:01.13
Jake Hurysz 4:01.94
Brandon Hudgins 4:02.68
Daniel Winn 4:02.76
Jake Edwards 4:03.13

Jonathan Peterson 4:04.75
Travis Mahoney 4:04.77
John Simons 4:08.75
Pat Casey 4:10.16
Tom Scott 4:23.49
 
Macklin 3:58.8 indoors 2011 according to bring back the mile website.....also at the music city distance carnival 3:59.01. He ran a 4:20 at the state meet in 2005....
 
Yes. I overlooked Mack. He broke 4 the year after he graduated from Williams (NCAA D3) while running for the Ragged Mountain Track Club.

cvctrackfan was correct. Mack ran 3:58.80 indoors in 2011 and then went under again that outdoor season at the Music City Distance Carnival (3:59.01).
 
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We have 2 new sub 4 milers out of the Ohio HS ranks. Akron's Clayton Murphy ran 3:57.11 earlier this indoor season at Akron (paced by Tony Jordanek, another Ohio sub 4 miler) and former Versailles State Champ, Sam Prakel raced to a 3:57.95 clocking for Oregon a couple weeks ago.

I've updated the list that started this thread. Clayton and Sam become the 22nd and 23rd sub 4 minute milers with Ohio HS roots.
 
Members of Ohio Sub 4 Club Rippin' it up!!

Wow! Ohio sure churns out the milers!!

Ohioans rank 1-2 in the U.S. in the 1500 meter run with less than 3 weeks to go til the Olympic Trials!!

Colby Alexander (Strongsville/Oregon/NJNYTC) ran a USA #1 time on June 4th when he won the Furman Elite 1500 over an all-star cast in 3:37.32. That was only his 2nd race of the season. He beat the likes of 2 time NCAA mile champ from England, Lee Emanuel, last year's NCAA 1500 champ, Chad Noelle, 2 time Canadian Olympian, Nate Brannen, U.S. #2 ranked Johnny Gregorek, among a host of other top notch milers.

Colby opened his outdoor season 2 weeks prior at the Hoka One One High Performance meet in Los Angeles with a 2nd place finish to Hasan Mead, running 3:38.44. Other than Mead, he bested a top notch field that included Leo Manzano, Andrew Wheating, Johnny Gregorek and Pat Casey.

Colby's #1 USA rank only lasted 6 days though as another Ohio product, Akron's Clayton Murphy won going away at the NCAA Championships, running 3:36.38. Both Colby and Clayton have auto-qualified for the Olympic Trials (3:38.00 standard) but are just tenths of a second off the Olympic "A" standard (3:36.20). Colby's 3:36.56 from last year is 3 tenths off and Clayton's 3:36.38 is only less than 2 tenths off. Clayton will be gunning for the standard at the Portland Track Festival tonight and Colby will aim to go sub 3:36 at Princeton this coming Saturday.

Behind Clayton in that NCAA 1500 final were Brannon Kidder (Lancaster/Penn State) who finished 4th in 3:40.67, outkicking Sam Prakel (Versailles/Oregon)
who finished 5th in 3:40.84. Three of the top 5 NCAA milers this year were Ohioans!

It also looks like Murphy will own the fastest collegiate time in the nation this year at 3:36.33 while last year's fastest time went to Colby Alexander at 3:36.56. Those times are the 5th and 6th fastest times ever recorded for an American in NCAA history.
 
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State The Obvious said:
Just saw a facebook post by Scott Fry. Fastest 1500 meter runners in Ohio history. He was going by memory so I double checked his stats just to make sure he was correct and he was, almost. He was one second off on one guy and 2 seconds on another. Pretty good memory! Here are the findings:

Rob Myers 3:34.89 run in 2005
Corey Leslie 3:34.93 run in 2013
Jeff See 3:35.21 run in 2012
Dave Wottle 3:36.2 Hand Time run in 1973
Colby Alexander 3:36.56 run in 2015

Current formula for conversion to mile is:
1500 in seconds x 1.08

Based on that formula here are their mile times:

Rob Myers 3:52.08
Corey Leslie 3:52.12
Jeff See 3:52.43
Dave Wottle 3:53.76
Colby Alexander 3:53.88

Tom Byers definitely deserves a mention. Although his fastest 1500 time was "only" 3:37.5 (HT), he ran a mile in 3:50.84. That is the fastest mile in Ohio history for an Ohio native and I believe he's the 11th fastest miler in U.S. history.
Click to expand...

Colby Alexander just became the fastest 1500 runner in the history of Ohio last night when he ran 3:34.88 to defeat an All-Star field that included three 2016 Olympians. The meet was the first meet in a series of pro, team scored meets called the Track Town Summer Series. This inaugural meet was held at Hayward Field. It was shown live on ESPN.

Here is the link to the race. The men's 1500 is at the 2 hour and 5 minute mark.

http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index#type/replay/

Full Results;
Colby Alexander 3:34.88 (PR)
David Torrence 3:34.95 (2016 1500 Olympian, Peru)
Ben Blankenship 3:35.02 (PR) (2016 1500 Olympian U.S.)
Kyle Merber 3:35.83
Eric Jenkins 3:35.94 (PR)
Johnny Gregorek 3:36.04 (PR)
Robby Andrews 3:37.19 (2016 1500 Olympian U.S.)
Ryan Hill 3:40.19
Eric Avila 3:45.90
 
State The Obvious said:
Colby Alexander just became the fastest 1500 runner in the history of Ohio last night when he ran 3:34.88 to defeat an All-Star field that included three 2016 Olympians. The meet was the first meet in a series of pro, team scored meets called the Track Town Summer Series. This inaugural meet was held at Hayward Field. It was shown live on ESPN.

Here is the link to the race. The men's 1500 is at the 2 hour and 5 minute mark.

http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index#type/replay/

Full Results;
Colby Alexander 3:34.88 (PR)
David Torrence 3:34.95 (2016 1500 Olympian, Peru)
Ben Blankenship 3:35.02 (PR) (2016 1500 Olympian U.S.)
Kyle Merber 3:35.83
Eric Jenkins 3:35.94 (PR)
Johnny Gregorek 3:36.04 (PR)
Robby Andrews 3:37.19 (2016 1500 Olympian U.S.)
Ryan Hill 3:40.19
Eric Avila 3:45.90
Click to expand...

Additionally, regarding my last post, Clayton Murphy has posted a top time as well. At the Stumptown Track Classic in Oregon a week after the NCAA meet, Clayton posted a 3:36.23 to move him into 6th All-Time on our Ohio list.

UPDATED LIST OF ALL-TIME FASTEST OHIO 1500 RUNNERS

Colby Alexander 3:34.88 run in 2016
Rob Myers 3:34.89 run in 2005
Corey Leslie 3:34.93 run in 2013
Jeff See 3:35.21 run in 2012
Dave Wottle 3:36.2 (Hand Time) run in 1973
Clayton Murphy 3:36.23 run in 2016
 
Tom byers ran 3:35.75 !!

FLASH!!
I am a stats nut. As with all dedicated stats nuts, we tend to go back and double and triple check stuff.

I had a hard time knowing that Tom Byers could run a 3:50.84 mile but couldn't run a faster 1500 than his listed 3:37.5 HT.

So I searched the internet and found that he has a career page on AllAthletics.com. It lists his career 1500 PR as 3:35.75 from a meet in Bruxelles, Belgium in 1982.

That's more like it.

So here is the revised ALL-TIME OHIO 1500 LIST

Colby Alexander 3:34.88 run in 2016
Rob Myers 3:34.89 run in 2005
Corey Leslie 3:34.93 run in 2013
Jeff See 3:35.21 run in 2012
Tom Byers 3:35.75 run in 1982
Dave Wottle 3:36.2 HT run in 1973
Clayton Murphy 3:36.23 run in 2016
 
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All-time fastest milers

Colby Alexander ran a 3:54.94 mile at Friday night's Sir Walter Miler in Raleigh, NC. Colby took 2nd behind NJNY/Hoka teammate Kyle Merber. Merber finished 3 tenths of a second ahead of Alexander in 3:54.57. Both runners finished under the 43 year old outdoor state (NC) mile record of 3:57.3 (HT) set in 1973 by Ken Popejoy.

Nine runners finished under 4 minutes with a tenth runner at 4:00.06.

Colby's mile time moves him from 8th to 5th on the All-Time Ohio list.

Another former Ohio champ, Corey Leslie, finished 8th overall in 3:58.51.

Here is the updated list of top milers in Ohio history.

1) Tom Byers 3:50.84 run in 1982
2) Dave Wottle 3:53.3 (HT) run in 1973
3) Corey Leslie 3:53.44 run in 2014
4) Rob Myers 3:53.78 run in 2004
5) Colby Alexander 3:54.94 run in 2016
6) Jeff See 3:55.24 run in 2012
7) Steve Foster 3:55.1 (HT) run in 1977
8) Kevin Ryan 3:55.9 (HT) run in 1983
9) Bob Kennedy 3:56.21 1994

NOTE: Dave Wottle's 3:53.3 was run in a race in Eugene, Oregon at Hayward Field. Pre invited Wottle to come and race him in a mile. Wottle outkicked Pre for the win in the second fastest time ever run by an American. Only Jim Ryun's World Record 3:51.1 was faster at the time. This race is featured in the "Fire On The Track" documentary on Pre.

NOTE: Colby Alexander ran a 3:50.30 mile at the NYRRC 5th Avenue Mile in 2016. That is the fastest mile ever recorded by an Ohioan indoors, outdoors or on a certified road mile.
 
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Ohioans run well at NYC 5th Ave Mile

In a field billed as the most competitive field of milers ever assembled on U.S. soil, Colby Alexander, Clayton Murphy and Corey Leslie repped Ohio very well at the 36th NYRRC 5th Ave Mile yesterday.

The pace was torrid the entire way as bonuses were being given out for fast times. The leaders hit 55, 1:53 and 2:51 at 440, 880 and 1320.

(link to race below)

Alexander and Murphy went with the leaders from the gun. Murphy had the lead at the 800 with Blankenship, Centro, O'Hare and Alexander right there.
During the 3rd quarter, Centro took over and started to push. He opened up about 10 meters on Alexander who by then was moving into 2nd.

With about 150 left Alexander had caught Centro, passed him and looked to be on his way to the win. However, Jenkins (like Centro, another Salazar protege) was sneaking up on the curb. With 30 meters left, Jenkins caught Colby and Centro. At the line Alexander had fallen a few steps behind but Centro looked left to make sure Colby wasn't coming back and as he did Jenkins snuck by on his right for the win!

Jenkins 3:49.4 #6 time in 5th Ave history
Centro 3:49.5 #7 time in race history
Colby 3:50.3 #12 time in race history (fastest 3rd place time ever)

Murphy held on for 4th in 3:52.3 and Corey Leslie finished 15th in 3:58.2

That was the fastest 1-2-3 finish in the 36 year history of the race.
Over 700 world class milers have competed here over the last 36 years.

Race organizers claimed this was the most competitive field of U.S. milers ever assembled on U.S. soil. Basically it was the entire top nine finishers at the Olympic Trials 1500 final minus 5th placer, Craig Engels (he is currently running XC for his college team).

**So that includes the Olympic Champ, Centrowitz. 3:30, 3:50
**Olympic 1500 finalist Blankenship. 3:35, 3:53
**Robby Andrews who made the Olympic final but was later DQ'd for taking 2 steps over the rail. (My prediction is, with the sit and kick final, he'd have medalled).3:34, 3:53
**Mazano, 2012 Olympic 1500 silver medal. 3:30, 3:50
**Gregorek 3:36, 3:55
**Alexander 3:34, 3:54
**Winn 3:37, 3:56
**Merber 3:34, 3:54

After those 8 they added...

Clayton Murphy, Olympic Bronze medalist at 800 meters.
Olympic 1500 finalist, Brannen (Canada) 3:34, 3:52
Thiboutot, Canadian 1500 Champion, 3:34, 3:54
O'Hare, Great Britain, 3:34, 3:52
Donn Cabral, Olympic finalist in Steeple, 3:56
Corey Leslie, Olympic Trials finals in Steeple, 3:34, 3:53
Riley Masters, Olympic Trials finals at 5000, 3:36, 3:56
Ford Palmer, 2-time USA 1500 finalist, 3:36, 3:55
Eric Jenkins, missed Olympic 5000 team by 4 hundredths of a sec, 3:35
Jake Wightman, Great Britain, 3:54
Mason Ferlich, Olympic Trials finalist in Steeple, 4:00

link to the race

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UcorJqCYDs
 
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We used to go to the 5th Avenue race to watch the great milers. What a historic race. Net drop of 9 feet but the drop is definitely negated by the uphill 2nd quarter. It starts a tad downhill but then climbs after the 440. If you run the 2nd 440 too hard you risk not having anything left at the end.

I can't recall anyone breaking 3:50 on that course in a long time. Very impressive times this year!
 
Sam Prakel helps Oregon to a top ten finish at NCAA XC

Sub-4 minute miler, Sam Prakel (Versailles HS), helped the Ducks to a top ten finish at the NCAA XC Championships in Terre Haute on Nov. 19.

Sam placed 82nd in the team scoring and 104th overall in 30:53 as number 4 man for the Ducks.

On a day that saw temperatures in the mid 30's and wind in the mid-20 MPH range, times were on the slow side but Sam was still able to come in at sub 5 minute pace for the 10,000 meter course. Not too shabby for a guy who specializes in the 1500!
 
End of year USATF time rankings for 1500/mile

It's been 3 months since the official end of the international outdoor track season and T&F News has the lists of top times in each event for 2016.

Since this is a mile thread about sub 4 Ohioans, it is exciting to report that a number of former Ohio 1600 State Champs made the final U.S. lists in the 1500 and the mile.

OUTDOOR 1500

Top time was 3:34.09 by Matthew Centrowitz
#2 Ben Blankenship 3:34.26

Colby Alexander (Strongsville) ranked #3 at 3:34.88 (equiv of 3:52.07 mile)
Clayton Murphy (Tri-Village HS) ranked 10th at 3:36.23 (equiv of 3:53.52 mile)
Sam Prakel (Versailles HS) ranked 28th at 3:38.43 (equiv of 3:55.90 mile)

OUTDOOR MILE

Top time was3:53.83 by Ben Blankenship
#2 Evan Jager 3:54.21

Colby Alexander ranked #4 at 3:54.94


OUTDOOR ROAD MILE

Top time was 3:49.5 by Eric Jenkins
#2 MatthewCentrowitz 3:49.6

Colby Alexander ranked #3 at 3:50.3
Clayton Murphy ranked #4 at 3:52.3

INDOOR MILE
Top time was 3:50.63 by Matthew Centrowitz
#2 Robby Andrews 3:53.16

Corey Leslie (Sandusky Perkins HS) ranked #3 at 3:53.87
Clayton Murphy ranked #11 at 3:57.11
Colby Alexander ranked #17 at 3:57.74
Sam Prakel ranked #20 at 3:57.95

With Sam having a year of NCAA eligibility left at Oregon, Clayton entering his first year as a pro running for Nike and Colby only one year removed from Oregon and running for Hoka, these three young milers have an incredibly bright future ahead of them on the national/international level in the1500/mile. (Not to ignore Corey Leslie, however, Corey tends to focus on the mile indoors but then races the steeple outdoors where he has made 2 Olympic Trials finals as a steepler).
 
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State The Obvious said:
Checked the Track and Field News website. It lists all the American milers ever to break 4 min. Dubina is not listed. I believe he was in the 4:02 to 4:05 range.
Click to expand...

I checked the Kent State University Track website.

Dubina ran a 4:01 mile indoor in 1977 and is 2nd all-time @ Kent both indoors and outdoors behind Sam Bair.
 
I remember Joe. He also ran around 1:50 in the 800. I remember he was always shooting for that elusive sub 4. Just came up short. Those last few seconds can be the toughest!
 
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