High schooler runs sub-4 minute mile, breaks record that had stood since 1965

Gary Martin, a senior at Archbishop Wood Excessive Faculty Warminster, Penn., broke a prestigious monitor and discipline record at the Pennsylvania Catholic League Championship on Monday by operating a mile in below 4 minutes. Martin's run broke a record that had stood for nearly 60 years.

Martin ran a mile in 3:57:98 with out assistance from a pacer, breaking a document that had been set by Jim Ryun in 1965.

Ryun became the primary excessive schooler to run a mile in beneath 4 minutes in 1964, then broke his personal document five instances earlier than graduating. Ryun's time of document was 3:58.3, a mark which Martin broke by less than a second.

Martin is now the 14th American high school athlete to interrupt 4 minutes, and his time now ranks third all-time in outside runs. It should be noted, although, that Ryun was the one athlete to do so in high school-only competition, without the usage of a pacer.

Martin's run was a major milestone he prepares to attend the University of Virginia upon commencement. Speaking about his long-term targets, Martin hopes to turn out to be an Olympic athlete.

"I would prefer to assume that it's not loopy for me to say that it's a dream now," Martin instructed CBS News. "Obviously, I'm nonetheless a protracted ways away and have some work to do, but I'm confident in my ability. I have the dream, now I just must put the work in and chase it."

Based mostly on his beating Ryun's mark, Martin's dreams might very well be in attain. After his document run within the 1960s, Ryun went on to compete in three Olympic finals, profitable silver in 1500m in the course of the 1968 Mexico Metropolis Olympics.