Southlake Carroll runner finishes high school in record time
Southlake Carroll senior Reed Brown is making the most of his last 24 hours in high school.
He ran the nation’s fourth-fastest 1-mile race ever for a high school athlete — 3 minutes, 59.3 seconds — Thursday night in St. Louis, then made it to Dragon Stadium in time for Friday morning’s graduation practice.
“We got back in about 90 minutes ago,” Carroll track coach Justin Leonard said Friday of he and Brown. “Getting ready to do graduation tonight.”
The graduation ceremony is at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Brown broke the 4-minute barrier competing against professional runners in the Festival of Miles in St. Louis. Brown’s last lap, according to website FloTrack, was in 56.8 seconds.
“The crowd was into it and rooting him on,” Leonard said. “He was able to hang on the last 50 meters. They knew it [sub-4 mile] was what we were shooting for.
“It was unbelievable. It was a great experience. The whole atmosphere was phenomenal. The weather conditions were perfect.”
Brown, who has signed with Oregon, might compete in one more event as a scholastic runner: the Brooks PR Invitational on June 17 in Seattle.
“He made his goal last night,” Leonard said. “He’ll decide in the next couple days, or get ready for college.”
Brown is the two-time winner at 3,200 meters in the UIL state track meet. He won the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in San Diego in December.
Sub 4-mile club
An updated list of high school boys who have finished the mile in less than 4 minutes:
3:53.43 | Alan Webb | 2001 |
3:55.3 | Jim Ryun | 1965 |
3:57.81 | Drew Hunter | 2016 |
3:59.30 | Reed Brown | 2017 |
3:59.38 | Matthew Maton | 2015 |
3:59.38 | Grant Fisher | 2015 |
3:59.4 | Tim Danielson | 1966 |
3:59.53 | Michael Slagowski | 2016 |
3:59.71 | Lukas Verzbicas | 2011 |
3:59.8 | Marty Liquori | 1967 |
This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Southlake Carroll runner finishes high school in record time."