High schooler makes a run at a four-minute mile in spite of coronavirus obstacles
It was cold, blustery and overcast; ideal conditions for camping out in a duck blind or a tractor pull in the swamp.
Not so much for time-trial running.
But runners are wired a bit different. I can relate. I used to charge around the track four times in high school as an Enterprise Savage — our actual team name — in the Oregon mountains. After those high-altitude efforts in the 1980s, I would wearily hug a trash can, sometimes on my knees, and wonder, “Hey, when can we do this again?”
The stands at a high school track in El Dorado Hills on a recent Saturday were empty. The parking lot was closed. The only coach on hand was in heavy-weather gear, under an umbrella as the rain started to come down, holding a video camera. Three runners hit the track with history in mind. The lead guy, Matt Strangio, took aim at one of sport’s most mythical and fascinating goals: the sub 4-minute mile.
Jesuit’s distance great cruised those four laps in quick order, officially 1,600 meters, in 4 minutes, 3.57 seconds. That would be a Sacramento-regional record, if it was an official race.
It was not an official race. The coronavirus pandemic has shuttered all such fun for all the right, yet painful reasons — to quell the spread of a virus that has brought much of the country to a crawl.
To understand Strangio is to understand this: he doesn’t crawl. He doesn’t do anything in slow motion. He lives to run, to compete, and I applaud him for his ambition on this quest, though once word got out that this time-trial race occurred, it infuriated area coaches and administrators.
They let Jesuit athletic director Hank Weinberger have it through emails, voice mails and texts about the unfairness of it, the arrogance, the bad look of having any sort of events when people are supposed to be sheltering in place and social distancing. But Weinberger wasn’t in on any of this.
This race was Strangio’s idea, his planning. It had nothing to do with Jesuit, and he was, technically, unattached to his school in this race. Weinberger stressed to The Bee that the Jesuit continues to promote “stay-at-home directives” and that his school “aches” for those who have lost so much of their normal lives.
Even Strangio’s coach, Walt Lange, was a late addition to this party, and Walt is never late to any running party. Strangio’s hope was to try to at least squeeze in two more time trails this spring to crack that 4-minute barrier. That won’t happen now as the backlash is too much, and Strangio understands why. He didn’t run this race to upset people. He did it because it was his ambition, so here’s a medal in spirit for the effort.
Strangio missed out on a lot this spring. A lot of people have lost a great deal. Strangio was a safe bet to three-peat as the CIF State 1,600-meter champion, to etch his place among the greatest Jesuit and regional distance greats. He is also a two-time CIF State cross country champion.
Strangio belongs on the all-time Mount Rushmore of distance cruiser stars in the Sac-Joaquin Section, right along with Riverbank’s German Fernandez, Jesuit’s Eric and Mark Mastalir and Michael Stember, Bella Vista’s Harold Kuphaldt, Kennedy’s Cliff West and River City’s Reggie Williams. OK, that’s a crowded Mount Rushmore, but runners would find a way to make it happen because that’s what runners do.
Only three high school runners have cracked the sub-4 mile in sanctioned meets, the first being Jim Ryun of Wichita, Kansas, in 1965 when he blazed a 3:58.3. Others have beaten 4 minutes in invitationals that include collegiate runners.
Bonus note: Ryun ran his final prep mile in Sacramento, at the 1965 Golden West Invitational, clocking a 4:04.3 effort, a Hughes Stadium record for any age that stood for 15 years. That came an hour after Ryun clocked a 9:04 two-mile run.
Said Strangio after his own race, “I ran my hardest. The conditions weren’t perfect. It would’ve been nice to have a full stadium and the whatnot. I’m pleased.”
He added about the joy of the 4-minute goal, “It wasn’t that long ago, that people thought breaking 4 minutes was impossible. Now to try and do it as an 18-year-old is crazy to me. It’s the ultimate goal in high school for a miler. I ran in a race where Cooper Teare (of the Bay Area) was trying to break the barrier, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God! This is the coolest thing ever!’”
Strangio will run and study at the University of Portland. I like his chances of becoming an All-American, perhaps even an Olympian.
Lange, in his 50th year coaching runners at Jesuit, beamed at Strangio’s last prep four-lap effort. Lange understands why people are concerned with any races happening, of much of anything happening, but he especially admires Strangio’s grit and ability.
“He’s a great runner, great attitude, and he’ll get that mark someday,” Lange said of the sub-4. “There is fascination with the four-minute mile. It’s long enough to really be entertaining and dramatic, not like the 10K and wondering, ‘When is it over?’”
Strangio’s parents, Jill and Steve, used to pour themselves into 10,000-meter races, so many laps you lose track. Steve was an All-American runner at Cal Poly and Jill was a distance All-American at UC Davis. Their son was born to run.
Jill and Steve were among the gathering of socially-distanced eight on hand for their son’s rainy-day race.
“Oh, wow, what Matt has done is incredible,” Steve said. “I can’t fathom what he’s doing and his times. What he did here today doesn’t hurt anyone. We’re social distancing. No hate mail, please! These kids work hard. Matt deserves a chance to try, and what he did today, with the wind blowing and no one yelling, was amazing.”
“Only mom was yelling!” Strangio added with a laugh.
Strangio’s Jesuit teammate, Chase Gordon, ran the first two laps of this time trial to help set the pace, then pulled out of the running by design. He owns the second-fastest 800-meter time in Jesuit’s storied history, having finished second in the CIF State finals last spring. He aimed to win it this season, naturally.
“This was supposed to be our year, Matt and me,” said Gordon, who will attend USC to study business and to run track. “Running is one of those sports where everyone feels the same pain, the same joy. We hurt together, we suffer when we run and when we don’t. We miss it, and we need it.”
Nearby, Strangio was leaning against the steps to empty bleachers, spent.
Four-lap wonders
The fastest Sac-Joaquin Section 1,600-meter runners
4:00.29: German Fernandez, Riverbank, 2008
4:01.23: Luis Grijalva, Armijo, 2017
4:03.57: Matt Strangio, Jesuit, 2020*
4:04.00: Michael Stember, Jesuit 1995
4:04.15: Mark Mastalir, Jesuit, 1986
4:04.23: Eric Mastalir, Jesuit, 1986
4:04.58: Pedro Reyes, Jesuit, 1980
4:05.23: Harold Kuphaldt, Bella Vista, 1982
4:07.6: Cliff West, Kennedy, 1968
4:08.07: Matt Strangio, Jesuit, 2019
* Unofficial, since it was not a sanctioned race.
This story was originally published April 12, 2020 at 4:00 AM.