The Mile at RunningLane: Sub-4 Minutes Within Reach

Photo Credit: Derrick Dingle/MileSplit

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WATCH LIVE: 2025 RunningLane Track Championships

At the RunningLane Track Championships, the mile isn't just the final event - it's the main event. Year after year, this race brings together some of the fastest high schoolers in the nation, all chasing personal bests, national recognition, and, in some cases, history.

This year's girls' and boys' fields are among the deepest yet. With a stunning number of athletes seeded under 4:50 and 4:10, respectively, both races are stacked with talent, grit, and the potential for all-time performances. Whether it's sub-5 breakthroughs on the girls' side or a serious shot at the coveted 4-minute barrier for the boys, Saturday night's miles are set to deliver a thrilling conclusion to the championship meet.

The elusive 4-minute mile is within reach at this year's meet, with Corbin Coombs leading the charge as he chases that holy grail of distance running.

Coombs, of Organ Mountain High School in New Mexico, has been inching closer and closer to the historic sub-4 barrier. The Wake Forest commit has consistently run in the low 4:00s - including a 4:04 as a junior - and now enters his senior year with a 4:01 seed time. Known for his day-in, day-out consistency, Coombs has quietly become one of the top milers in the country. His range is impressive too, with PRs of 51.40 (400m), 1:52.19 (800m), and 3:44.94 (1500m), proving he's got both strength and speed to contend.

Cracking the 4-minute barrier in the mile is one of the most difficult feats in distance running. It's a milestone so difficult that fewer than 20 U.S. high schoolers in history have ever done it. To put it in perspective, more people have climbed Mount Everest than have run a sub-4 mile as a high schooler.

That's the context surrounding this boys' field at RunningLane. With 21 athletes seeded at 4:07 or faster and multiple runners sitting just a few seconds off that mythical mark, we could be witnessing one of the most competitive and historic high school mile races of the year.

Close on Coombs' heels is TJ Hansen of Michigan, a University of Colorado commit with 4:03 speed and the versatility to back it up - including a 1:51.96 over 800m and a blistering 14:24 for 5,000m. He's as dangerous in a tactical race. Luke Pash of New Jersey brings a lethal finishing kick to the mix. Headed to the University of North Carolina, Pash owns personal bests of 50.80 in the 400m and 1:51.50 in the 800m - and with a 4:04 mile seed, he's more than ready to challenge the front.

Then there's the Colorado junior Ben Lee (4:04), Owen Clemons of Tennessee (4:05), and Arkansas standout Matthew Shelly (4:05), all capable of surging to the top with the right race setup.

Boys Top Mile Seeds

As for the girls' mile? It's absolutely loaded this year.

Headlining the field? Gabbie Bishop, the Arizona standout from Providence Academy who's been putting together a dream year this 2025 season. The junior phenom enters the race with a seed time of 4:45, the fastest in the field - and based on how her spring has gone, that mark could go down even further under the lights at Milton Frank.

Bishop is no stranger to winning on big stages. This season alone, she's claimed gold in the 1,600m at the Texas Distance Festival and the 3,200m at the Texas Relays, and just a few weeks ago she pulled off an incredible quadruple at the Arizona 3A State Championships - winning the 400m, 800m, 1,600m, and 3,200m, racking up a massive 40 points for her team.

With personal bests of:

• 10:10.61 in the 3,200m

• 4:44.87 in the 1,600m

• 2:11.02 in the 800m

• 58.89 in the 400m

...Bishop is the definition of range and closing speed. If the pace is honest early, she's got the wheels to finish it fast.

But Bishop won't be alone in the hunt.

Just a second behind her in the seedings is Caroline Barton, signed to compete for Princeton University in the fall, with a seed time of 4:46. Also at that mark are Rowan Saacke (TX) and Payton Meineke (CO).

Behind that group, things stay tight. The field includes Mia Perez (TX, 4:47) and Kaitlyn Estep (NC, 9th grade, 4:48) - a freshman with serious upside. Even deeper, veterans like Kinley Wolfe (CO) and Kasey Dingman (NC) round out a field that has 10+ girls seeded under 4:50. 

That's unheard of.

To put it into perspective: running a sub-5-minute mile in high school is an incredible achievement and marks an athlete as one of the best middle-distance runners in the country. It's a pace that few reach, and those who do often go on to compete at the collegiate level and beyond. 

Girls Top Mile Seeds

And with RunningLane's signature setup - from pacing lights to the magnetic mile mood - the stage is set for a mile race that could define the season.