ST. LOUIS -- Stanford recruit Grant Fisher became the seventh U.S. high school runner to break 4:00 in the mile when he accomplished the feat Thursday night at the Nike Festival of Miles at St. Louis University High School.
Fisher, a senior at Grand Blanc (Michigan) High, ran 3:59.38 to finish third behind a pari of professional runners. He became the second high school runner this year to accomplish the feat, after Oregon's Matthew Maton did so on May 8. Before that, it hadn't happened since 2011, and it's been accomplished only four times in the past 49 years.
Fisher ran splits of 1:02.18, 59.98, 58.79, and came home in 58.42.
Fisher is a two-time Foot Locker national cross country champ. He signed a letter of intent with Stanford in the fall and ran on his future home track of Cobb Track and Angell Field on May 2 in the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. Fisher covered 1,500 meters in 3:42.89, making him the fourth-fastest high school runner ever for that distance,
In 1964, America's Jim Ryun became the first high-school runner to break four minutes for the mile, running 3:59.0 as a junior and a then-American record 3:55.3 as a senior in 1965.
Tim Danielson (1966) and Marty Liquori (1967) also came in under 4:00, but Ryun's high-school record stood until Alan Webb ran 3:53.43 in 2001.
In 2011, Lukas Verzbicas became the fifth under four minutes, before Maton and Fisher became the sixth and seventh this year.
