Road miles and metric miles aside, there is really only one man in history who has ever run a four-minute mile in Utah. Four NCAA championships, numerous conference championships and professional meets and the likes of Jim Ryun and Eamonn Coglunn all failed to break the four-minute barrier. But in 1983 Doug Padilla, then a rising young distance runner out of BYU, announced he would break the mark in Provo.
Running virtually alone the last half of the race, Padilla did just that and then some, running 3:57.23 - the first sub-four in Utah.No one has done it since then.
Now Padilla, 33 and a veteran of two Olympics, has announced he will try to do it again. On Thursday evening he will attempt to break the four-minute mark on the same BYU track he set the record on seven years ago.
"I'm going to try to break the state record," he announced this week, "and at least break four minutes."
Padilla's record attempt, part of which will be televised live by KSL (Ch. 5), beginning at 6:20, will be the featured event of Thursday's first Deseret News/The Athletics Congress Utah State Track and Field Championships. The all-comers meet, which will begin at 4 p.m. and finish at about 8, will include the best of the state's high school, college and post-collegiate athletes, plus the Canadian national team, which is making its annual spring training appearance (sans Ben Johnson) in Provo.
The competition will include a handful of Utah's elite track and field athletes, which was the original purpose of the meet. As TAC/Utah president Ben Stowell explains, "Since we have a number of elite athletes in the state, we want to provide them with the opportunity to compete locally in a championship meet. Eventually we hope it will grow into a big enough meet that it will draw elite athletes from around the country."
While Utah is home to a number of world- and national-class track athletes they rarely are able to compete in Utah. Some of them, such as Ed Eyestone and Paul Pilkington, will be absent Thursday. Nevertheless, Thursday's meet will provide a rare local stage for a number of local top athletes:
- Frank Fredericks. Almost exactly a year ago on this same track, Fredericks, a BYU junior from Namibia, covered 100 meters in 10.02 - the fastest ever run in Utah and the third fastest time in the world in 1989. Wiry and young, he is considered by some to be among the finest up-and-coming sprinters in the world.
- Farley Gerber. In 1984, Gerber won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the NCAA Championships with a meet-record time 8:19.27 and finished a close fourth in the U.S. Olympic Trials. He appeared to be America's next Henry Marsh, but allergies and career demands drove him into early retirement. Now, three years later, Gerber is making a strong comeback. He already has qualified for the U.S. national championships.
- Cynthia Bayles. A former Washington state prep champion sprinter, Bayles didn't take up the sport again until age 26. A couple of years later she clocked 2:03.72 for 800 meters and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Bayles, who finished fifth in Sunday's Jack In the Box meet with a time of 2:05.16, will run both the 800 and 1,500 Thursday.
- Matt Stowell, an honors student at East High School who has no peers at the prep level in the 400-meter dash (and few at the local college level, either), will compete against collegians in an effort to meet the junior Olympic qualifying mark. Stowell already has set a 4-A state record of 47.79 this season, which was, for all practical purposes, a solo effort. How fast could he go with competition? Perhaps he'll break the unofficial all-time state prep record of 47.74 set by Provo's Alan Kirkwood.
- Padilla, the American record holder for the 3,000, two-mile (indoors) and 5,000 meters (indoors), is having his best season since 1985. Last Sunday he finished a close third in the Jack In the Box mile, running 3:57.42 behind Joe Falcon and Steve Scott. Just last summer Padilla produced his personal record in the mile, 3:54.2.
The only question is can he produce a sub-four mark in Utah's mountain air again without a Scott or Falcon to chase? Besides Padilla, the top entrants in Thursday's mile are BYU steeplechaser Ted Mecham and teammate Dave Spence, whose best 1,500-meter times put them in the 4:04-4:07 mile range.
For the record, there have been several unofficial sub-four miles in Utah. Suleiman Nyambui's 3:40.87 for 1,500 meters in 1981 converts roughly to a 3:58 mile. In last year's NCAA meet in Provo, Kip Cheruiyot and Peter Rono clocked 3:42.0 and 3:42.09 in the 1,500, which borders right on the sub-four barrier. There also have been several sub-four road miles, but all were produced on down-hill courses.
Only Padilla has produced an official sub-four mile. But can he do it again?