60 years ago (1964): Wichita East High's Jim Ryun runs a sub-4:00 mile

60 years ago on this day (1964), 17-year-old Jim Ryun of Wichita East HS became the first high school runner to break a time of four minutes in the mile run. He recorded the historic mark of 3:59.0 at the Compton (California) Relays, the Compton Invitational.

Ryun was hardly a household name going into the meet, wearing the gold and blue uniform of the Wichita Kiwanis Track Club -- although he did hold the world record time in the mile for 16-year-olds. Ryun finished in eighth place in the race, as all runners finished under the four-minute mark, the first time that had ever happened. The other competitors in the race were all older and more experienced than Ryun, all college and post-college runners, America's fastest milers.

Bob Timmons, Ryun's coach at East High, advised him to stay near the front early on in the race. After 440 yards, Ryun was tied for second place, but in a tight pack he got bumped heading into the 660-yard turn. He got knocked off the track, stumbling into the infield, but did not fall down. He kept stride, returned to the track, but it cost him about one second, as he slipped from fifth to eighth place.

Ryun recovered to get back among the top four, but his energy was spent. Ryun later said, "I was so overspent that the last 100 yards was a race in and of itself. It seemed like an eternity before I could reach the finish line. I felt like a bear had jumped on my back. My legs felt like tree stumps. I began to fade as I watched the other runners pull away from me. Where is the finish line? I had never felt so tired in my legs."

Ryun later reflected, "All those long hours of hard training in the heat and humidity of Kansas' summers and the bitter wind chills of winter had paid off. This kid who was cut from the church baseball team had accomplished what no other high school boy had achieved."