Feb. 1, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – Four minutes, one mile. For years it was the unbreakable barrier, and it remains among the most celebrated feats in all of sport. Folks that know the sport of track and field will tell you that 3:40 in the 1,500 or 7:55 in the 3,000 are just as impressive, but to the casual fan there is something about the simplicity of it; four laps, four minutes, one mile.
On February 4, 2005, the 15th annual Meyo Invitational will return to the Loftus Sports Center on Notre Dame’s campus. In the last two seasons, nine runners have broken through the magical four-minute mark in two of the most exiting races at Notre Dame in recent memory.
In the 2003 Meyo Mile, the marquee event at the meet, Notre Dame senior Luke Watson won the race in school record time (3:57.83) moving into the lead a mere 30 meters from the finish line. After the dust had settled, the top five in the race were each in under four minutes, each within a half second of the others, and each owned one of the five fastest times in the world that year.
This year’s race is expected to feature a defending NCAA mile champion, two former Meyo Mile winners, a slew of All-Americans, and no less than six runners with personal best times of 4:04 or better.
Notre Dame’s own Kurt Benninger, who ran 7:59 in the 3,000 a week ago, and Eric Morrison, who has a personal best 4:01 mile on his resume, will be among those attempting run under four minutes.
The Invitational, as well as the Meyo Mile, are the brainchild of Irish head track coach Joe Piane. When the Loftus Center was built, Notre Dame installed a track that was oversized and topped with a Mondo surface, which produced a rare and very fast combination.
Piane recounted the invention of the Invitational, “We put the meet together because it was a huge track and it was attractive to just give it a try. The name comes from Ray Meyo, who donated everything, and we decided to highlight the mile because even the average person knows that a sub-four-minute mile is very good, so we put together a “four minute challenge” knowing that if the race did go under four minutes everyone was going to say, `Wow! This is really something.”
The mile however will not be the only great event on the weekend. The Meyo Invitational is always packed with outstanding performances from start to finish. A year ago, the meet saw 69 NCAA Championship qualifications, and over the years numerous track and school records have been shattered.
All of the finals at the Invitational, as well as the fastest heat of each distance race will take place Saturday between 2:00 and 4:30. The Meyo Mile will start promptly at 2:30, and as always a large crowd is expected.