One year ago this Saturday, then-senior Jon Rankin made history
when he broke the four-minute mile barrier. Saturday, the former
All-American will return to the site of his amazing feat, hoping to
do even better.
Rankin will be heading a talented field of middle-distance
runners at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational when
he competes in the mile.
“I’m not making any promises, but I’m
definitely in great shape,” Rankin said of breaking the
four-minute mark again. “I was injured in the fall, but since
then I have been training very well, and I am in great shape to do
it.”
At the same meet last year, Rankin became the first Bruin in 25
years to accomplish the feat when he won the mile event in a time
of 3:57.89. This year, redshirt seniors Martell Munguia and Erik
Emilsson will take their shots at replicating Rankin’s
success.
“Hopefully they can break that four-minute mark
again,” distance coach Eric Peterson said. “That will
certainly be one of the highlighted events of the day.”
Though Munguia and Emilsson specialize in other events, the two
have shown they may be capable of posting impressive mile times.
Munguia, a talented 800-meter runner, has run 3:46.74 in the
1500-meter race while Emilsson, an All-American steeplechaser,
recorded a 4:06.10 in the mile indoors earlier in the season.
“We are really loading up that mile to try and duplicate
what Jon was able to do last year,” Venegas said. “It
should be a great thrill for the fans.”
Rankin, who went on to capture the 1500-meter title at last
year’s Western Region Championships, now runs professionally
for Nike.
FRIDAY’S ACTION: Fans will get to see a
slew of Olympic-caliber athletes tonight when Chinese gold medalist
Xing Huina competes in the women’s 3000-meter race. Hunia
headlines a strong core of Chinese national team members, including
Liu Qing, one of the world’s top women middle-distance
runners, who will be present at the RJ/JJK Invitational. Qing will
compete in the 1500m race on Saturday.